Merle Oberon (19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was an Anglo-Indian actress. She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). A traffic collision in 1937 caused facial injuries that could have ended her career, but she soon followed this with her most renowned performance in Wuthering Heights (1939).Throughout her adult life, in order to conceal her Indian heritage she maintained the fiction that she was born in Tasmania, Australia; she concocted a story that all her school records had been destroyed in a fire, which meant it could be neither proven nor disproven. She maintained these fictions throughout her professional life. The year before she died she finally admitted this story was not true, and records located since her death have confirmed her true origin.
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1 | To date (2016), Oberon is the only Asian actress to be nominated as Best Actress. |
2 | Was considered for the role of Bithiah in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956). |
3 | She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6274 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960. |
4 | Merle Oberon passed away on November 23, 1979, three months away from what would have been her 69th birthday on February 19, 1980. |
5 | Had appeared with Binnie Barnes in four films: The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), The Divorce of Lady X (1938) and 'Til We Meet Again (1940). |
6 | Stunned by Merle Oberon's radiant beauty in The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), director William Wyler recommended to cousin Carl Laemmle to sign her. Months later, Wyler discovered that Universal had taken his advice but mistakenly signed Binnie Barnes. |
7 | Although she made three films opposite Charles Korvin, she said in an interview in the February 1982 issue of "Films in Review" that he was not a good actor. |
8 | Most early biographies of Merle Oberon credited "Service for Ladies" as her first Korda film, but she was not in it or "Never Trouble Trouble", another incorrect attribute. |
9 | According to an interview with Oberon in the February 1982 edition of "Films in Review", Samuel Goldwyn owed her over a million dollars to her for a series of pictures. He allegedly cried to her that he did not have the money. According to her, she told him to forget about it even though she still owed agent's fees to Myrom Selznick. Some years later, Oberon asked Mrs. Goldwyn if she could buy a print of Wuthering Heights (1939) to complete her collection of films for her children but was refused. |
10 | Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), which went to Vivien Leigh. |
11 | The miniseries Queenie (1987) starring Mia Sara is based on a book by Merle's nephew, loosely based on her life. |
12 | In 1949, 12 years after her mother's death, she commissioned a painting of her mother from an old photograph, instructing the painter to lighten her mother's complexion in the painting to hide the fact that she was part-Indian. |
13 | Her will left most of her money to be divided between her children. She left $1 million to the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital. Her husband, Robert Wolders, got nothing, at his own request. |
14 | The two children she had during her marriage to Bruno Pagliai, Francesca Pagliai and Bruno Pagliai Jr., were adopted. |
15 | Early publicity stated that she was born in Tasmania, Australia, rather than India. At that time, a Tasmanian background was considered "classier" than her true mixed race origins. |
16 | Had extremely sensitive skin. She suffered from cosmetic poisoning twice, the second of which left permanent scarring. |
17 | Her father hailed from Britain and her mother from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). |
18 | To hide her half-Indian parentage, she would tell friends and acquaintances that the older woman who lived in her house was her maid; the woman was actually her mother. |
19 | Lost the role of Domini Enfilden in The Garden of Allah (1936) to Marlene Dietrich. |
20 | Because of facial scars the actress sustained in a London car crash in 1937, her future husband, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, designed a compact spotlight that he coined the "Obie" (Oberon's nickname). Mounted on the side of the camera, the device lights the subject head on, thus reducing the incidence of unflattering facial lines and shadows. |
21 | Following her death, she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in the Garden of Remembrance. |
22 | Was known as "Queenie Thompson" up until 1933 when future husband Alexander Korda changed her name for her role in The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933). |
Title | Year | Status | Character |
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Interval | 1973 | | Serena Moore |
Hotel | 1967 | | The Duchess Caroline |
Of Love and Desire | 1963 | | Katherine Beckmann |
General Electric Theater | 1957 | TV Series | Mata Hari |
Assignment Foreign Legion | 1956-1957 | TV Series | Host - War Correspondent / Anna / Carla / ... |
The Price of Fear | 1956 | | Jessica Warren |
The Loretta Young Show | 1955 | TV Series | Guest Hostess / Lucille |
The 20th Century-Fox Hour | 1955 | TV Series | Jane Marryot |
Four Star Playhouse | 1953-1955 | TV Series | Carol / Sara Belmont / Margot Sterling / ... |
The Ford Television Theatre | 1953-1955 | TV Series | Sara Belmont / Allison Brent |
Deep in My Heart | 1954 | | Dorothy Donnelly |
Désirée | 1954 | | Empress Josephine |
The Best of Broadway | 1954 | TV Series | Maggie Cutler |
Todo es posible en Granada | 1954 | | Margaret Faulson |
Affair in Monte Carlo | 1952 | | Linda Venning |
Dans la vie tout s'arrange | 1952 | | Elizabeth Rockwell |
Pardon My French | 1951 | | Elizabeth Rockwell |
Berlin Express | 1948 | | Lucienne |
Night Song | 1947 | | Cathy |
Temptation | 1946 | | Ruby |
Night in Paradise | 1946 | | Delarai |
This Love of Ours | 1945 | | Karin Touzac |
A Song to Remember | 1945 | | George Sand |
Dark Waters | 1944 | | Leslie Calvin |
The Lodger | 1944 | | Kitty Langley |
First Comes Courage | 1943 | | Nicole Larsen |
Stage Door Canteen | 1943 | | Merle Oberon |
Forever and a Day | 1943 | | Marjorie Ismay |
Lydia | 1941 | | Lydia MacMillan |
Affectionately Yours | 1941 | | Sue Mayberry |
That Uncertain Feeling | 1941 | | Jill Baker |
'Til We Meet Again | 1940 | | Joan Ames |
The Lion Has Wings | 1939 | | Mrs. Richardson |
Wuthering Heights | 1939 | | Cathy |
Over the Moon | 1939 | | Jane Benson |
The Cowboy and the Lady | 1938 | | Mary Smith |
The Divorce of Lady X | 1938 | | Leslie |
I, Claudius | 1937 | | Messalina |
Beloved Enemy | 1936 | | Helen Drummond |
These Three | 1936 | | Karen Wright |
The Dark Angel | 1935 | | Kitty Vane |
Folies Bergère de Paris | 1935 | | Baroness Genevieve Cassini |
The Scarlet Pimpernel | 1934 | | Lady Blakeney |
The Private Life of Don Juan | 1934 | | Antonita, a Dancer of Passionate Temperament |
Vagabond Violinist | 1934 | | Germaine Brissard |
Thunder in the East | 1934 | | Marquise Yorisaka |
The Private Life of Henry VIII. | 1933 | | Anne Boleyn The Second Wife |
Strange Evidence | 1933 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
For the Love of Mike | 1932 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
Men of Tomorrow | 1932 | | Ysobel d'Aunay |
Wedding Rehearsal | 1932 | | Miss Hutchinson |
Aren't We All? | 1932 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
Ebb Tide | 1932 | | Girl (uncredited) |
Reserved for Ladies | 1932 | | Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited) |
Fascination | 1931 | | Flower Seller (uncredited) |
Never Trouble Trouble | 1931 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
A Warm Corner | 1930 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
Alf's Button | 1930 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
The W Plan | 1930 | | Woman at Cafe Table (uncredited) |
The Three Passions | 1928 | | Bit Part (uncredited) |
Title | Year | Status | Character |
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Hollywood's Diamond Jubilee | 1978 | TV Special | Herself - Interview |
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to William Wyler | 1976 | TV Special documentary | Herself |
ABC Late Night | 1974 | TV Series | Herself |
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 1963-1973 | TV Series | Herself / Herself - Guest |
The 45th Annual Academy Awards | 1973 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects |
The 43rd Annual Academy Awards | 1971 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Best Costume Design |
A Birthday Gala Tribute Noel Coward | 1970 | TV Movie | Herself - Performer |
The David Frost Show | 1970 | TV Series | Herself |
A Bob Hope Comedy Special | 1966 | TV Special | Herself |
The Bob Hope Show | 1966 | TV Series | Herself |
The Oscar | 1966 | | Herself |
The Epic That Never Was | 1965 | TV Movie documentary | Herself / Messalina |
The 37th Annual Academy Awards | 1965 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Short Subjects Awards |
The Other World of Winston Churchill | 1964 | TV Movie documentary | Herself - Acquaintance |
Here's Hollywood | 1962 | TV Series | Herself |
The DuPont Show of the Week | 1961 | TV Series | Herself |
Assignment Foreign Legion | 1956 | TV Series | Herself - Hostess |
Climax! | 1956 | TV Series | Herself |
The Colgate Comedy Hour | 1955 | TV Series | Herself |
The 27th Annual Academy Awards | 1955 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Honorary Awards - Juvenile Performances |
What's My Line? | 1954 | TV Series | Herself - Mystery Guest |
The 26th Annual Academy Awards | 1954 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Best Special Effects |
Schlitz Playhouse | 1953 | TV Series | Herself - Hostess / Marian Thorne |
The Ed Sullivan Show | 1952 | TV Series | Herself |
Hollywood Goes to Town | 1938 | Short documentary | Herself |
Round the Film Studios | 1937 | TV Series | Herself - Actress |
Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 4 | 1936 | Documentary short | Herself |
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