Aurora Miranda

The less well-known younger sister of Carmen Miranda, Aurora Miranda -- often billed in the '40s simply as "Aurora" -- enjoyed a performing career that lasted from the '30s through the '50s. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1915, she was a popular singer and dancer in Brazil beginning in the mid-'30s. In her teens. Aurora Miranda made her first screen appearance in Alo Alo Brasil (1935), in conjunction with her sister Carmen. This led to work in a series of South American musical-comedies, culminating with Banana da Terra (1939). Her career subsequently took her to the United States where, outside of her sister's shadow, she made her way into movies as something of a specialty act in her own right -- at Republic Pictures in the Tito Guizar-starring vehicle Brazil (1944) and, more notably, in Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady (1944). In both movies, she played dancers, though in the Siodmak film she also had an important acting role -- as the tempestuous, ego-centric Brazilian dancer Estela Monteiro -- and carried it off beautifully, in addition to performing a pair of distinctive musical numbers. Her subsequent film work had her cast in the Disney south-of-the-border salute The Three Caballeros (1945) and as a specialty act in Tell It to a Star. She retired from performing in the '50s to devote herself to raising a family, and wasn't seen on-screen again until her appearance in the 1981 documentary Once Upon a Mouse, dealing with the history of Disney animation. She followed this with her work in the 1990 film Dias Melhores Virao (aka Better Days Ahead). She also appeared in the 1995 film Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business, dealing with her sister's life and career. Phantom Lady and The Three Caballeros are her most widely known and oft-revived films.

~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide