Filming Jorge Amado in Salvador, Bahia

And all thanks to novelist Jorge Amado. The three directors each carried scripts based on stories by Brazil's most successful writer, who has long made Salvador both his setting and his home.

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Bruno Barreto directed Sonia Braga in "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," a film that became Brazil's top blockbuster, attracting 12 million moviegoers domestically. Elsewhere, Marcel Camus filmed "Otalia of the Night" (based on Amado's "Shepherds of the Night"), while Nelson Pereira dos Santos shot "Tent of Miracles."

The bustle jarred the natives of Bahia state, folks notorious for their laid-back lifestyles. But the cinematic focus on Amado's works was hardly an aberration. Carlos Diegues' "Tieta of Agreste" bowed in 1996 as the ninth Amado adaptation.

On the heels of “Tieta," the Globo TV network used Salvador's Carnaval celebration as a backdrop to remake "Dona Flor" as a miniseries. And countless telenovelas have been based on the writer's creations.

"Jorge Amado's work seduces filmmakers. All his books are so rich in characters and stories," said Pereira dos Santos, who also adapted the novel "Jubiaba."

Amado's narrative technique, his love of amorous and political freedom, and his delightful mixture of realism and lyricism have wooed readers worldwide - his 30-plus novels have appeared in more than 40 languages. These qualities also have translated easily to the bigscreen.

"Amado was strongly influenced by modern U.S. writers, who were in turn influenced by film," Pereira dos Santos noted. "He [was] a son of Steinbeck."

So numerous are the film and TV versions of his novels that Amado, 84 when we interviewed him in 1997 (he died at 88 in 2001), struggled to think of a deserving story that's still virgin. Anthony Quinn was frustrated in his desire to play the lead in "Home Is the Sailor," Amado remembers. "Warner Bros. bought the rights years ago but never made the film."

As a youngster growing up in Ilheus, a Bahian cocoa-growing region 300 miles south of Salvador, Amado would slip free of charge into the local theater - owned by a friend of his father. Tom Mix and other early screen cowboys were his favorites.

He earned his first film credit in the 1930s, about the time publishers were beginning to invest in the young writer. "Estrela do Mar" featured a young Bahian actor, Dorival Caymmi, today the dean of Brazilian popular music composers.

Amado's image flashes across the screen in the guise of a fisherman, sans dialogue. Not until 60 years later, as the author read from his novel in the opening sequence of Tieta," would Amado's voice resonate in theaters.

"Estrela do Mar" was Amado's only venture into screenwriting, but he would often assist directors adapting his works - advising on scripts, recruiting extras to provide the right local color, and just troubleshooting.

Visit the Casa de Jorge Amado in Salvador’s historic downtown neighborhood Pelourinho.

DVDs and VHSs of Jorge Amado Film Adaptations