How Did Maria Callas Die?

Spoilers ahead for the film Maria on Netflix.

In the opening moments of Pablo Larraín's film Maria, the titular Maria Callas (played by Angelina Jolie) has just died.

In real life, Callas did in fact pass away in her Paris apartment, as the movies depicts. Callas died on September 16, 1977, having suffered a heart attack; she was just 53 years old.

An obituary published in the New York Times noted: “Miss Callas had told some friends this summer that she was concerned about her health, but other associates reported that she had been in perfect health and was preparing to write her autobiography for a New York publisher.”

Four days after her death, a funeral service was held for Callas at Saint Stephen’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Paris.

View of the funeral of Greek opera singer Maria Callas, September 1977.

Among the notable names in attendance at the funeral were royals, including Grace Kelly of Monaco and her daughter, Princess Caroline:

Princess Grace and Princess Caroline of Monaco sit with Maria Callas’s sister, Hyacinthia, at Maria’s funeral.

Maria Callas's remains were cremated, and her ashes were initially kept in the Columbarium at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Maria’s gravestone at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

However, an urn containing her ashes were stolen in December 1977, though it was recovered a few hours later. Subsequently, Maria's ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea, off the island of Skorpios, in June 1979, as was her wish.

Scattering of the ashes of singer Maria Callas on the Aegean Sea, Greece, June 3, 1979.

“First and foremost, I belong to the Greek people,” Callas declared on an Athenian radio station in 1957. “I may be married to an Italian. I may have received accolades from all over the world, but my blood is Greek and nobody can change that.”

She hoped to be remembered as a serious artist, she said once. “I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not a devil, either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.”

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.