About Vasco Santana Vasco Santana (full name: Vasco António Rodrigues Santana; Lisbon, 28 January 1898 - 13 June 1958) was a Portuguese actor, one of the most renowned of the classical era of Portuguese cinema.He had already a long career in theatre when he played the main character in the first Portuguese sound film, A Canção de Lisboa, in 1933. He would star in about one dozen films until his death.