Credit: Nuestro Stories
Growing up in a Latino household, no matter what generation you came from, you were taught who Carmen Miranda was. Whether it was her iconic headdresses, the way she paved the way for Latinas in Hollywood, or how her life was cut tragically short – somehow, someway, you knew Carmen Miranda.
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But we’re guessing you don’t know everything there is to know. So, just in case, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite facts you may, or may not, have known about this Latina leyenda.
Don’t Play With Miranda's Money
Not only was she a household name, by the time Carmen reached her career peak, she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. This Brazilian bombshell was said to have earned $200 thousand dollars per picture in 1945. Accounting for the cost of inflation that equals out to her making the equivalent of $3.3 million dollars each picture. She had a literal hold over American audiences, and was a constant box office boon for the studios, making her a hot commodity. On top of being a groundbreaker on the financial side, she also broke ground literally. She was the first Latina to have her hands and footprints outside the infamous Grauman's Chinese Theater, and one of the first Latinas to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Loved in the U.S., Hated at Home
Despite being loved for her portrayal of Brazilian culture by the audiences in the U.S. she entertained, she was not favored in Brazil. Her self-proclaimed home country (she was not born there but lived there most of young life) believed she was playing to the white-washed stereotypes of what they believed Brazilian people were like. When she returned home for a charity event that she organized, she was booed off stage. It would take her nearly 20 years before she would return to Brazil again. Despite her home country's disdain, in the U.S., she was beloved. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited her to perform at the White House, she made countless appearances around the country, and even Bugs Bunny dressed as an homage to Miranda in multiple Looney Tunes shorts.
Only the Good Die Young
Despite having what many would have assumed was a dream life, Miranda suffered from long bouts of depression, which she often alleviated through the use of various substances including alcohol, uppers, and downers. On top of her mental health struggles, she was also in a marriage that made her extremely unhappy – a marriage she remained in without any desire to do so due to her Catholic upbringing. Between it all, at one point Miranda checked herself into a sanitarium, eventually agreeing to submit to electroshock therapy, which did not work. Combining all that together with a Hollywood lifestyle that included “constant partying,” Miranda died at the age of 46 from a sudden heart attack. She was not discovered by her husband until hours later, as the two did not share a bedroom during their tumultuous relationship.
What Carmen Miranda Lacked in Love She Made Up For in Real Estate
Unlike many Hollywood starlets of both past and present tense, Miranda never wanted to blow her riches on frivolities. Aside from being an amazing performer, she was also a shrewd business woman who understood when and where to invest. Through the course of her career, she became affectionately known as a real estate mogul who invested the money from her Hollywood fame into property all over the world. Even after she retired from the acting life, the properties she purchased kept her continually wealthy until her dying day.
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