Harrowing story behind dancer who 'dropped to a knee' on TV show and died a day later
A dancer known as 'The Brazilian Bombshell' suffered a sad death the morning after falling on live television.
Carmen Miranda was a star actor and dancer that rose to prominence in the 1930s in her native of Brazil, becoming a singing sensation aged just 15. Due to her celebrity status, her records sold beyond South America, introducing the world to samba music.
New York producer Lee Shubert brought her to the US, signing her on for his Broadway musical The Streets of Paris in 1939.
Miranda became a national star overnight, signing a contract with 20th Century Fox in 1940 to do a number of films, later also featuring in the iconic Copacabana (1947).
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As she became one of the world's most famous entertainers, she popularised the iconic 'Fruit Hat' look that she wore in films and performances, which was decorated with bananas, grapes and pineapples.
Popularising several aspects of Brazilian culture, the star earned more than $2 million in Hollywood, an even more considerable amount of money at the time.
However, aged 46, the dancer made an appearance on The Jimmy Durante Show on TV, which finished late due to the strike of TV actors at the time.
In the middle of the performance, she fell to one knee after telling the host that she had trouble breathing.
She soldiered on and continued the show like nothing was wrong.
After the shoot, she held a small party at her home for members of the cast and some friends, and was her natural performative self in front of guests.
The party ran late, and along with her husband, film producer David Sebastian, they made their way upstairs to bed.
It was about 3am when they went to their separate bedrooms, where Miranda took off her clothes, put her shoes in a corner, lit a cigarette and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Apparently, she left the bathroom holding a small circular mirror, and in the hall that led to her bedroom, she fell and died of a heart attack at some point in the early hours of 5 August, 1955.
She made no noises and nobody heard her fall, as her body was found lying in the hallway at 10.30am.
Her husband explained at the time to the Los Angeles Times: “She was tired from the long hours of work the day before and the party.
“I wanted her to sleep late. I went into her room to wake her — and found her lying there.”
Her physician of 15 years, Dr. Marxer, pronounced her dead after arriving at the house, and noted that there was no history of heart trouble apart from a brief battle with bronchitis.
Joshua Nair