Oberon went on to become one of the greatest movie stars of the era, and an Academy Award-nominated actress . Movie Star'S Life Is the Stuff of Her Nephew'S Latest ... After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. Under her stage name, Merle Oberon, she was nominated for an Oscar for her part as Kitty Vane in The Dark Angel (1935). Mexico City, October 1968 Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images B&W, 104 minutes. I hope this issue is resolved by somebody more qualified than I. Anout her height in feet She measures 5 feet 2 Inches in height. Merle Oberon Nationality is American, Indian, British. Occupation: adopted child. . The Bombay-born actress overcame an incredibly painful past to become a huge star in the 1930s and remained active as a . Merle Oberon Children are Francesca Pagliai ( Daughter), Bruno Pagliai Jr ( Son). A passionate tale of ill-fated love, Wuthering Heights takes a deep look into the hearts and motivations of Cathy (Merle Oberon) and Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) as they move through their lives with and without each other.… The first, however, was the only Indian actress ever nominated for an Oscar: Merle Oberon. Ford's father was a railroad executive who could count a Canadian prime minister and an American president as relatives. She was Indian by natinoanliy. Making her debut in films as an extra she soon made her mark in British films after being spotted by producer-director Alexander Korda and she landed doing a small but significant . Margo Taft and her "maid". 52 kg. Merle Oberon was born in Bombay, of mixed Welsh and Ceylonese (now Sri Lankan) parentage, as Estelle Merle Thompson, and was nicknamed "Queenie". Within a few days of her arrival, Howard was in the hospital too ill to report to work. She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Merle Oberon appeared in movies/films. Actress Merle Oberon dressed in fur, circa 1940. Born on October 23rd, 1958 in Trinidad & Tobago, to Ramkissoon (Shannon) and Ursula Dolly Boodoo, Merle was the 5th of 6 children, named after actress Merle Oberon, her father's choice after a famous British and East Indian actress in Wuthering Heights. Death: January 07, 1984 (24-25) Mexico City, Mexico. Same Mother Estelle Anne De Bourbon.. 157 cm. She played leading roles in such British films as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), before she travelled to Hollywood to star in classics as The Dark Angel (1935) and Wuthering Heights (1939). Her father was British and her mother was Sinhalese. If Arthur Thompson died in 1914, it seems extremely unlikely that he was the father of Merle Oberon born in 1917. The second was Ben Kingsley, the British actor of Gujarati Indian lineage on his father's side. The identity of Merle's biological father is not known. For years she was the anti-Marilyn, the pensive garden . Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. About her ethnicity her mother is a Eurasian and her father was a British engineer. November 23, 1979. Because her bi-racial parentage would have been a subject of immense prejudice, Oberon began telling others that she was born to white parents on the Australian island. Immediate Family: Son of Bruno Pagliai and Merle Oberon. Others - Merle Oberon (Aunt) (Indian-born British Actor) Manager. Her most famous role was in Wuthering Heights, where creative lighting hid a prominent facial scar that she received in a car crash. The good news: The elegant, exquisite, and vastly underrated actress, whose early life and ancestry have been a matter of conjecture for decades, makes any movie worth a look.. Never a top box office draw in the United States, Oberon was an important international star all the same, having worked with many of the top . If there ever was a place with over-abundance of skeletons in the closet it's Hollywood. However, this real story is quite something even by its standards. She had a rocky school life, because she was born out of wedlock to a 12 year old mother. Actress Merle Oberon wearing a leopardskin hat and muff, circa 1940. Oberon had apparently triggered an attack of nerves and Howard developed boils. She was the daughter of Arthur Terrence O'Brien Thompson (father) and Charlotte Selby (mother). Glenn Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford on May Day in a working class town in Quebec, Canada—but that doesn't mean he had a hardscrabble upbringing. Born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson in Bombay to a mother of mixed origin and a white father, Merle Oberon was actually a member of India's large Anglo-Indian community. According to Michael Korda, she "became a feature of Bombay nightlife while still in her early teens and eventually made her way to England as the girlfriend of a wealthy young Englishman." Merle's birth certificate, however, reveals that her biological mother was actually Charlotte's daughter, Constance, who would have been just 14 at the time of Merle's birth. Merle Oberon. It shows she was born Estelle Merle Thompson in 1911 in Bombay and her father, Arthur Thompson, was a railway engineer from Darlington rather than an Army officer. Merle Oberon (19 February 1911 - 23 November 1979) was an Anglo-Indian actress. Actress Merle Oberon spent her entire life hiding away her biracial heritage in fear that discrimination would end her movie career. Oberon would continue to wear the necklace throughout her life. As Mother's Day has just passed, I must say, I find it sad the way Miss Oberon treated her own mother--her dark skinned mother--by passing her off as a servant. They marry soon after, and must confront the furious father. A writer tells a crowd in a café about a woman he knows, who once feel deeply in love with a desperate, compulsive gambler. 9 Father and son 'baffled' by arrest for Caldor Fire. She had a rocky school life, because she was born out of wedlock to a 12 year old mother. From a historical standpoint, Ruth's background is significant. . However, this real story is quite something even by its standards. The novel is based on the life of Korda's late aunt, the exotically beautiful 1940s film star Merle Oberon, whose first husband was Sir Alexander Korda, the British movie producer who discovered her. Merle Oberon was born Estelle Merle Thompson in Mumbai (Bombay), India. However, she concealed her mixed-race background, claiming to have been . A project between the British Library and ancestry website findmypast.co.uk has published records from the time of the Raj online, including Oberon's birth certificate. Born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson in Bombay to a mother of mixed origin and a white father, Merle Oberon was actually a member of India's large Anglo-Indian community. However, in January, 1935, after Howard began work in The Petrified Forest, Oberon appeared in New York ready for a showdown. The biography Merle: A Biography of Merle Oberon exposed what seems to have been known by those in her inner circle: Oberon was Anglo-Indian. After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. Merle was given "Queenie" as a nickname, in honour of Queen Mary, who visited India along with King George V in 1911. The same paranoia had apparently afflicted Anglo-Indian Hollywood actress Merle Oberon, who denied her ancestry. 1. After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. Merle Oberon in The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1935. But as the Daily Mail explained, Oberon was born Estelle Merle Thompson in India to a 12-year old Constance Selby in 1911. After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel, she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She told her last husband Robert Wolders that she was born in 1917 and he believed her. Merle Oberon (Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson) Sitter in 31 portraits Merle O'Brien was born in Bombay of an Anglo-Indian mother and an Australian father. Merle oberons full body measurements are. The stunning alabaster-skinned beauty was half Indian, a heritage she hid from the world at all costs. 5 ft 5 in or 165 cm . After an eccentric young woman (Merle Oberon) is left on her father's estate to keep her from spoiling his Presidential bid, she attends a rodeo and falls in love with a cowboy (Gary Cooper). In 1940 Oberon suffered further damage to her face, now thought to have been as a result of using chemicals to further lighten her complexion. Merle Oberon earned an Oscar nod for her acting in 1935's "The Dark Angel" and earned additional recognition for playing Cathy in 1939's "Wuthering Heights." But off-screen, Oberon feared that her secrets would be exposed. Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 1911 - 23 November 1979) was an Indian-born British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). He enjoyed white privilege during a time in America when racism . . Poster for William Wyler's 1939 drama 'Wuthering Heights' starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier. Indian-born British actress Merle Oberon (1911-1979) had her breakthrough as Anna Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). During that time, he was associated romantically with a number of celebrities, including a nine-year affair with actress Merle Oberon. Different Father's.My Grandmother Anne Estelle Nobelius..My mother Baroness Helen Estelle Armstrong.. Errol Flynn is there First Cousin Mother's were sisters..All born in Hobart at Wrest Point Sandy Bay.. Later Rhona Bellevue Hill SYDNEY.. It is an understatement to say that Merle's story was harshly sculpted by British colonialism. She wasn't solely white nor was she born in Tasmania like actor Errol Flynn, as she told people. About Merle Oberon. February 19, 1911- Merle Oberon: "Without security, it is difficult for a woman to look or feel beautiful." Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson was probably born in Bombay 110 years ago.It might seem improbable, but our lives intersected once. After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. Merle Oberon real name was Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson. Her mother, Constance Selby, was of Sri Lankan and Māori descent, while her father, Arthur Thompson, was a British railway engineer. Her mother—or the woman believed to be her mother . This week marks the birth anniversary of Merle Oberon, who was born on February 19, 1911. If there ever was a place with over-abundance of skeletons in the closet it's Hollywood. The good news: The elegant, exquisite, and vastly underrated actress, whose early life and ancestry have been a matter of conjecture for decades, makes any movie worth a look.. Never a top box office draw in the United States, Oberon was an important international star all the same, having worked with many of the top . Audrey Hepburn moved through her movies like a mournful swan, unsure of her own beauty. It was reported at the time as being 'cosmetic poisoning'. Oberon's father, Arthur Thompson, was a British mechanical engineer who worked for Indian Railways. Merle Oberon "British" actress Merle Oberon, one of the most mesmerizing actresses in the '30s and '40s, erased her Indian background and her mother, a woman of color (shown above). Than 60 films, Oberon & # x27 ; s story was harshly sculpted British! 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