Carmen Dolores

Carmen Dolores Cohen Sarmento Veres (1924–2021) was a Portuguese stage, radio and television, and film actress and writer, with a career that lasted 60 years.

Early life Dolores was born on 22 April 1924 in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. She was the daughter of José de Matos Sarmento de Beja, a journalist, who died when she was 15 and María del Pilar Manuela Cohen y Muñoz who was of Spanish and Jewish descent. Her brother, António Sarmento, was also an actor. Dolores attended the Liceu D. Filipa de Lencastre in Lisbon. Introduced by António, she first became known at the age of twelve in a radio play on Rádio Clube Português, in which she performed alongside actors such as Rogério Paulo, Alves da Costa, Isabel Wolmar, and Laura Alves. She was reading poems on the radio at the age of 14. Dolores married Vítor Manuel Carneiro Veres in Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto on 30 April 1947. Her husband was an engineer. Career She made her film debut at the age of 19, as the protagonist of Amor de Perdição (Love of Perdition - 1943), a film based on the 19th-century Portuguese novel of the same name by Camilo Castelo Branco, adapted by António Lopes Ribeiro. This was followed by Um Homem à Direitas (1945), directed by Jorge Brum do Canto, A Vizinha do Lado (1945) by Lopes Ribeiro and Camões (1946) directed by José Leitão de Barros. She started to appear in the live theatre in 1945, as part of the successful Os Comediantes de Lisboa (Lisbon Comedians) company, based at the Teatro da Trindade. Her first performance was in Electra by Jean Giraudoux, with other plays including The Living Corpse by Leo Tolstoy.

Awards and honours Dolores was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry in 2005. She was also awarded the Gold Medal of Lisbon City Council, the Sophia de Carreira award from the Portuguese Cinema Academy, and the António Quadros Theatre Prize, among numerous other awards for her acting.

In July 2018, she was decorated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with the insignia of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit, during a tribute to her held at Teatro da Trindade, which included the premiere of the play Carmen inspired by her autobiographical book, Vozes Dentro de Mim, and the naming of the main hall with her name. No palco da memória (On the stage of memory - 2013). Vozes Dentro de Mim (Voices Inside Me - 2017). Death Dolores died on 16 February 2021, in Lisbon. She was buried in the Lumiar Cemetery in Lisbon.

A road was named in her honour in Cascais.