Corita Cunha

Biography

Corita Cunha, stage name of Cora Bockel (Buenos Aires, April 17, 1917 — Brazil, 2003), was a Brazilian actress born in Argentina. Corita Cunha appeared in five films. Her most notable work was in "O Caçador de Diamantes", directed in 1933 by Vittorio Capellaro. An orphan, she came to Brazil with her grandmother, Cláudia Montenegro, who was performing in São Paulo nightclubs. Corita was considered one of the most beautiful women in her time, which sparked an obsessive passion for the young actress by Assis Chateaubriand, who was then married.

After Assis separated from his wife, Corita moved in with Assis, as did her grandmother Cláudia Montenegro, her great-aunt Maria Montenegro, and Zulema, her cousin. Assis harbored a pathological jealousy of Corita, which contributed to the actress's dissatisfaction. In 1934, the couple's daughter, Tereza Cunha, was born, but she could not take her father's surname because divorce was prohibited at the time. Corita ran away in 1942 with the architect Clito Bockel, with whom she lived for the rest of her life.