Merle Oberon [Actress]

[BITTER]

On a classic H'wood kick for some reason. But Merle was one of the great beauties of the Golden Age with her stunning face and exotic, somewhat tragic background. Best known as Cathy in the 1939 film Wuthering Heights, she was born in Bombay (1911) to an Irish father and an Anglo-Indian mother - something she hid most of her life for fear that it would ruin her career. She was discovered by Alexander Korda and got her big break in the Oscar-winning The Private Life of Henry VIII. She also scored in films like The Dark Angel (Oscar-nominated for Best Actress),These Three, A Song to Remember, Berlin Express, Desiree and Hotel. One of Hollywood's original cougars, her fourth husband, Dutch-born Rob Wolders (he became Audrey Hepburn's boyfriend after Merle's death), was 25 years her junior. She died from a stroke in 1979, aged 68.

[BITTER]

This is a rather unfortunate pic from her early days as a British starlet, but she turned into a stunner, so we can forgive her.

[heart_leigh]

Thank you once again, BITTER! I really appreciate all these pics you post of glamorous stars of yesteryear. It's a terrible shame that Merle Oberon had to hide her background. I understand how racist the system was back then in Hollywood. It would have ended her career before it started.

Wasn't she scarred in a car accident? You have to hand it to the cinematographers and their lighting techniques. I would never have guessed she was scarred in the first place.

[Brookie]

Stunning woman.

[BITTER]

Ironically, it was Alexander Korda's first wife, Maria, who discovered Merle at an audition. "Pick THIS one, you idiot", she allegedly said to him. He did and Merle became his mistress, and later his wife.

Thank you once again, BITTER! I really appreciate all these pics you post of glamorous stars of yesteryear. It's a terrible shame that Merle Oberon had to hide her background. I understand how racist the system was back then in Hollywood. It would have ended her career before it started.

I know, it was sad. Her nephew, publisher Michael Korda, wrote a roman a clef about her called Queenie. A nice, quick, trashy read. It was a shame she had to hide what she was - lots of actors did. I think Boris Karloff was also Eurasian and had to hide his background, though many knew. Yul Brynner and Turhan Bey as well. But everyone knew about their ancestry - maybe it was easier for men.

Wasn't she scarred in a car accident? You have to hand it to the cinematographers and their lighting techniques. I would never have guessed she was scarred in the first place.

Merle had skin problems most of her life actually. The heavy, oil-based makeup they used back in the day wreaked havoc on her skin as well. The scars she got in the accident weren't as bad as what the makeup and sulfa drugs did to her. She was deathly ill from the flu and took sulfa drugs back in 1940. The drug was relatively new then, and she had a horrific allergic reaction - combined with the movie make-up, it caused her face to break out into hundreds of oozing sores. Korda sent her to New York and got the top dermatologists, but the incident left noticeable pits around her mouth and chin. She was still beautiful, but there was permanent damage. She also lost out on two film roles, the leads in That Hamilton Woman and Madame Bovary, which went on to Vivien Leigh and Jennifer Jones respectively.

She divorced Korda and married cinematographer Lucien Ballard, who created a special light that obliterated her scars onscreen. The light IIRC is still in use today (correct me if I am wrong) and is called the "Obie" after her.

She went to great lengths to hide her Eurasian ancestry - even telling people that her much darker mother was her maid that she hired while living in colonial India. Sometimes she'd tell people she was part Italian or Portuguese, just to throw them off. Could not have been easy. In some of her films and pics she looks very Asian, in others, very European. It depends on how she was made up. IMO, there is no other way she could have been as stunning as she was without that mixture.

[ConstanceSpry]

I didn't know Merle O. was part Indian. She was a beauty, and a good actress. But my favorite as far as looks is Gene Tierney. I think she was even more beautiful than Liz Taylor or Vivian Leigh.

[BITTER]

I didn't know Merle O. was part Indian. She was a beauty, and a good actress.

Then her ruse worked .

[ConstanceSpry]

Then her ruse worked .

[BITTER]

There are some diehards who still claim she is Tasmanian and one-quarter Chinese. For some reason, in the minds of some, part-Chinese is better than part-Indian...go figure.

[ConstanceSpry]

I bet her heritage would have been an asset nowadays, at least things are more progressive in that regard.
Just watched The Letter with Bette Davis, Gale Sondergaard sure was exotic looking. She reminded me of someone and I couldn't figure out whom, until I read she was one of the main inspirations for the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

[bubblegumblades]

There are some diehards who still claim she is Tasmanian and one-quarter Chinese. For some reason, in the minds of some, part-Chinese is better than part-Indian...go figure.

In my experience there is a common view that anywhere East Asian is seen as the appealing Asian heritage as opposed to South Asian. I'm half Indian which generally seems to dissapoint. I've even been told being Anglo-Indian doesn't count as eurasian.

[BITTER]

I bet her heritage would have been an asset nowadays, at least things are more progressive in that regard.
Just watched The Letter with Bette Davis, Gale Sondergaard sure was exotic looking. She reminded me of someone and I couldn't figure out whom, until I read she was one of the main inspirations for the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Ben Kingsley is Anglo-Indian, and he's never hidden it, and has had a fabulous career.

I love that movie, but Gale's character was a scary ho, seriously.

In my experience there is a common view that anywhere East Asian is seen as the appealing Asian heritage as opposed to South Asian. I'm half Indian which generally seems to dissapoint. I've even been told being Anglo-Indian doesn't count as eurasian.

I didn't know that, thanks for the info. In the US, we thing of race and racism primarily along (or in?) the black/white continum, have to remember that these issues affect other races as well.

[scooter]

They say she was Prince Phillip's long time mistress. Not sure if this was before during or after the Korda marriage.

[bubblegumblades]

I didn't know that, thanks for the info. In the US, we thing of race and racism primarily along (or in?) the black/white continum, have to remember that these issues affect other races as well.

I did wonder about that actually. I did my undergraduate dissertation on the identification with race and self esteem. Part of the argument was to do with the (possible) effects of racism. A lot of research on the topic came from The USA and it seemed to deal with Black and White. There were a few papers that mention Asian, but again it was East Asian. I also remember another message board I used to lurk at (primarily US) would use lots of unflattering stereotypes and language about Indians (the basic dehumanise type thing) but seemed to think it was okay and funny because they were talking about Indian and not Black people. I don't know if it was to do with racism or just ignorance about the culture, from what I gather there is less knowledge about South Indian culture there.

[BITTER]

I did wonder about that actually. I did my undergraduate dissertation on the identification with race and self esteem. Part of the argument was to do with the (possible) effects of racism. A lot of research on the topic came from The USA and it seemed to deal with Black and White. There were a few papers that mention Asian, but again it was East Asian. I also remember another message board I used to lurk at (primarily US) would use lots of unflattering stereotypes and language about Indians (the basic dehumanise type thing) but seemed to think it was okay and funny because they were talking about Indian and not Black people. I don't know if it was to do with racism or just ignorance about the culture, from what I gather there is less knowledge about South Indian culture there.

Sad, but true. I think as the country's diversity increases, more ethnic groups will take a stand against such stuff.