Carmen Miranda, GCIH (, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress, and film star who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s.
After establishing a successful singing and acting career in Brazil, Lee Shubert signed Miranda and her band to a contract in 1939. She made her American stage debut in July 1939, and later moved to Hollywood to pursue a film career. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", Miranda is noted for her signature fruit hat outfit she wore in the 1943 movie The Gang's All Here. By 1945, she was the highest paid woman in the United States.
Miranda made a total of fourteen Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953. Though hailed as a talented performer, her popularity waned by the end of World War II. She later grew to resent the stereotypical "Brazilian Bombshell" image she cultivated and attempted to break free of it with limited success.
On 4 August 1955, Miranda unknowingly suffered a mild heart attack while performing during the taping of an episode of The Jimmy Durante Show. She finished the show but died the following morning after suffering a second heart attack.
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