(b Marco de Canaveses, nr Lisbon, Portugal, 9 Feb 1909; d Beverly Hills, CA, 5 Aug 1955). American singer and actress. She grew up in Rio de Janeiro and had established herself as a popular entertainer with a reputation throughout South America by the time she appeared on Broadway in 1939. Known as ‘the Brazilian Bombshell’, she captivated American audiences with her extravagant presentation of South American novelty songs and Tin Pan Alley imitations. Her samba-related dance movements, syncopated and staccato singing style and outlandishly theatrical mode of dress were highly distinctive. From her initial successes in the revue The Streets of Paris (1939) and the film Down Argentine Way (1940) until her death, Miranda performed extensively in night clubs, theatres, on television and in motion-picture musicals, making altogether 19 films and 154 recordings. Her film appearances were typically secondary roles capitalizing on her exotic qualities and were usually played with a sense of self-parody. The height of her popularity, the 1940s, coincided with a great craze in the USA for Latin-American culture.
CBY 1941
J. Queiróz Júnior: Carmen Miranda vida, glória, amor e morte (Rio de Janeiro, 1956)
D. Nasser: A vida trepidante de Carmen Miranda (Rio de Janeiro, 1966)
A. Cardoso Júnior: Carmen Miranda: a cantora do Brasil (São Paulo, 1978)
J.S. Roberts: The Latin Tinge: the Impact of Latin American Music on the United States (New York, 1979)
L.H. Saia: Carmen Miranda (São Paulo, 1984)
R. Archer and D. Simmonds: A Star is Torn (New York, 1987)
M. Gil-Montero: Brazilian Bombshell: the Biography of Carmen Miranda (New York, 1989)
M. Holston: ‘The Women of Merengue’, Américas, xlii/3 (1990), 54–7
MICHAEL J. BUDDS