Woody Allen, Michael Jackson and the Promise Steven Spielberg Couldn’t Keep: Pele’s Encounters with the Famous

“I’ve met so many musicians, actors and celebrities, it was impossible to remember them all,” she wrote. Edson Arantes do Nascimento in his book ‘Pele the autobiography’. Surely everyone remembers this. Legend of world football, throughout his life he entertained himself in endless dinners and events and collected incredible anecdotes with a large part of the world Jet Set.

This all stemmed from the leap he made in 1975, when he went from playing in Brazil for Santos to arriving in New York, where he donned a Cosmos shirt to promote soccer in the United States.

During those years, the Brazilian’s hectic schedule included parties with Frank Sinatra, Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart, as well as dinners with Woody Allen. The star who has shone the brightest in the world of sport has joined the great artists of American entertainment. Those were the glory years of the legendary Studio 54.

It has even aroused a (healthy) envy among Hollywood figures, like Robert Redfordwho told how their unfortunate meeting was.

“On one occasion I was arriving at the Warner offices in Rockefeller Center and inadvertently caused a huge commotion with people wanting my autograph and yelling my name. I got into the elevator with another man. He then turned to face me and I saw that it was Robert Redford,” Pele once recounted.

-“Nobody paid me the slightest attention!” said the actor and director to the Brazilian, admitting the jealousy he felt and then laughing.

In New York, for example, the artist Andy Warhol painted a picture of his face. It was 1977, when he was commissioned to portray a series of athletes. Pele clearly wasn’t someone with only 15 minutes of fame. He was the most famous person on the planet.

He also had great friends in music. The name of Pele was a fixture on Michael Jackson’s VIP guest list as the singer celebrated his 18th and 19th birthdays.

“Great boy! He loved Brazil, he loved the dance of our people. He always wanted to talk about Brazil, our traditions. Really, a spectacular boy‘O Rei of the King of Pop told writer Brian Winter, who co-wrote the book ‘Pelé: Why Football Matters’ with the star in 2014.

With Sinatra, they shared a dinner to raise funds for Governor Hugh Carey’s campaign. Also Bill Clinton he profited from his fame to get some extra cash.

As an actor, he recorded the legendary film “Escape to Victory”, together with Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and footballers Osvaldo Ardiles and Bobby Charlton. There they played a soccer match against Nazi officials, in the midst of World War II.

Pelé was so great that, according to the Argentine César Luis Menotti in a documentary on Lionel Messi, when it comes to football, the Brazilian should be removed from the list, because “he comes from another planet”.

The director saw it with the same admiration Steven Spielbergwhich promised Pele the only natural satellite of the Earth – the moon.

“I once bumped into Steven Spielberg in a restaurant and he said to me: I’m going to make a movie of you playing soccer on the moon, because it’s the only place you haven’t played yet.Pele recalled

It’s the promise he couldn’t keep. She didn’t need to.

With information from agencies

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