Photo: K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty
Gloria Dea, known as Las Vegas' first magician performer, has died at 100 years old, multiple outlets confirm.
One of Dea’s caretakers, LaNae Jenkins, director of clinical services for Valley Hospice, told ABC News that Deadied on Saturday near her Las Vegas residence, which theLos Angeles Timesalso reported. Jenkins noted that a memorial was being planned to honor the late performer.
Longtime caretaker Beth Bowes told theLas Vegas Review-Journalthat Deadied from coronary heart disease at 6:35 a.m. that morning in hospice care.
“Gloria was an amazing woman who accomplished an amazing amount of stuff,” Bowes told the newspaper on Saturday. “She deserved all the accolades she got. Her personality was the catalyst to achieve it.”
PEOPLE reached out to Valley Hospice for comment.
The Oakland, Calif., native first performed in what is now referred to the Las Vegas Strip in the 1940s, then decades later moved to Sin City in 1980. Magicians likeDavid Copperfieldfollowed in her footsteps.
“Gloria was amazing. She was charming funny and engaging,“Copperfield noted of his friend. “And in Vegas, as a young magician, she started it all. It was an honor to know her,” he added.
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Just last August, Dea spoke with theReview-Journalfor an interview commemorating her 100th birthday.
“There was no Strip, really, in those days,” Dea shared. “We had the Last Frontier and the El Rancho Vegas. They had just started building the Flamingo,” said Dea of the famed hotel and casino whereElvis Presleyperformed in the late 1960s.
Dea’s show on May 4, 1941, at the Roundup Room was reportedlythe first magic show ever performed in Vegas.
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“If it weren’t for the people who went out there and really made magic important, I wouldn’t be here,“Copperfield said last August, according to FOX5. “And I think what Gloria did was, when she did her act in the show, and got the best review, the door was open for magicians to keep performing here.”
“So,” he added, “maybe I owe my career to her.”
source: people.com
