A certain color is supposedly shunned by members of a specific profession, because a famed, 17th-century practitioner is said to have collapsed publicly while wearing it and died several hours later. It is also said that this color is considered to be unlucky in the field owing to certain associations in medieval examples of this form of work. What is the color, and who was that 17th-century figure?

zbeckabee

Yellow -- Moliere. One of the most famous moments in Molière's life is the last, which became legend: he died on stage, while performing Le Malade Imaginaire. Strictly speaking, he collapsed on stage, and died a few hours later at his house, without sacraments because two priests refused to visit him and the third arrived too late. It is said that he was wearing yellow, and because of that, there is a superstition that yellow brings bad luck to actors. Wiki May 13 06, 4:05 PM

lanfranco

Very nice, zbeck, a yay! I was beginning to think I'd have to direct people to my previous question, which contains a clue to this one. I'll add that yellow (and green) were often worn by Satan in medieval morality plays, so that both of these colors acquired negative associations. May 13 06, 4:14 PM

peasypod

May I add the colour purple worn in the theatre in Italy would also cause a mild bout of chaos as well... May 13 06, 5:50 PM

lanfranco

Purple IS bad luck in the Italian theater but I've heard too many reasons why to think that this goes back to a specific event. Most people have told me that it simply has something to do with the colors of death and mourning. May 13 06, 6:06 PM