Merle Oberon | |
|---|---|
 Oberon in 1943 | |
| Born | Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson (1911-02-19)19 February 1911 |
| Died | 23 November 1979(1979-11-23) (aged 68) Malibu, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928–1973 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Merle Oberon (bornEstelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was a British actress ofAnglo-Indian origin.[1][2][3][4] Her career spanned the 1920s to the 1970s, and she was a majorleading lady during theGolden Age of Hollywood.[3]
Born and raised inBritish India, she began her acting career in British cinema in the early 1930s, with a breakout role inThe Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). She later moved to Hollywood, where she became an international star, earning acclaim for films such asThe Dark Angel (1935),Wuthering Heights (1939), andThat Uncertain Feeling (1941). Her performance as Kitty Vane inThe Dark Angel earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress.
Oberon's other notable roles includedA Song to Remember (1945),Berlin Express (1948), andDésirée (1954). A traffic collision in 1937 caused facial injuries that nearly ended her career, but she recovered and remained active in film and television until 1973.
Throughout her adult life, Oberon concealed her parentage and ethnic background, claiming to have been born inAustralia to white British parents.[3] Despite hiding her Asian heritage throughout her career, Oberon is regarded as the firstAsian nominee in the Best Actress category and the first Asian individual overall to receive an Oscar nomination.[5][6]
Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson[7][8] was born inBombay,British India, on 19 February 1911, to a white father and aBurgher mother. She was given the nickname "Queenie" in honour ofQueen Mary, who visited India along withKing George V in 1911.[9]
For most of her life, Oberon concealed the truth about her parentage by claiming that she had been born inTasmania, Australia, to white parents,[10] and that her birth records had been destroyed in a fire. She identified as British.
She was raised as the daughter of Arthur Terrence O'Brien Thompson, a Welsh mechanical engineer fromDarlington who worked in Indian Railways,[11] and his wife, Charlotte Selby, whose full married name, according to her 1937 obituary, was Constance Charlotte Thompson. Selby was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and was a Burgher (a small Eurasian ethnic group in Sri Lanka).
Oberon's birth certificate lists her biological mother as "Constance Thompson",[12] which could have referred to either Constance Charlotte Selby or her then-14-year-old daughter, Constance Joyce Selby. It is theorized that Thompsonimpregnated his stepdaughter Constance Joyce by rape, with Oberon being raised as Constance Joyce's half-sister to avoid scandal. Neither Constance Charlotte nor Constance Joyce acknowledged this theory during their lifetimes, and DNA testing did not exist then to determine maternity.[13][14]
Constance Charlotte herself had given birth to Constance Joyce at the age of 14, after being raped by Henry Alfred Selby, the Anglo-Irish foreman of a tea plantation.[15] In their 1983 biography of Oberon,Charles Higham and Roy Moseley (known to write highly fictionalised accounts of celebrities) also averred, dubiously, that Constance Charlotte hadMāori ancestry, though whichIwi (Maori tribe) was not specified.[15]
Constance Joyce married Alexander Soares, with whom she had four children: Edna, Douglas, Harry, and Stanislaus. Edna and Douglas moved to the UK at an early age. Stanislaus, who lived inSurrey, Canada, was the only child to retain his father's surname of Soares. Harry eventually moved to Toronto, Canada, retaining grandmother Charlotte's maiden name, Selby.
After locating Oberon's birth certificate in Indian government records in Bombay, Harry tried to visit her in Los Angeles, only for Oberon to refuse any meeting. When Higham and Moseley were working on their biography of Oberon, Harry withheld that he might have been Oberon's half-brother instead of her nephew; he later disclosed the information to Maree Delofski, producer of the 2002ABC documentaryThe Trouble with Merle, which investigated the conflicting versions of Oberon's origin,[14] and repeated it to biographerMayukh Sen, who included it in the bookLove, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star (2025).
In 1914, when Merle was three, her father, Arthur Thompson, joined theBritish Army and later died ofpneumonia on theWestern Front during theBattle of the Somme.[16] Merle and Charlotte led an impoverished existence in shabby flats in Bombay for a few years before moving in 1917 toCalcutta.[17] Oberon attendedLa Martinière Calcutta for Girls, one of the best private schools in Calcutta, as a charity student.[17][18] There, she was constantly teased by the majority European students for her mixed ethnicity, which led her to quit school and receive lessons at home.[19]
Oberon performed with the Calcutta Amateur Dramatic Society. She loved films; she liked going tonightclubs. Indian journalistSunanda K. Datta-Ray said that Merle worked as a telephone operator in Calcutta under the name Queenie Thomson, and won a contest at Firpo's Restaurant there, before the outset of her film career.[20]
At Firpo's in 1929, aged 18, Oberon met a former actor, Colonel Ben Finney, and dated him;[21] however, when he saw Charlotte one night at her flat, he realized Oberon was of mixed ancestry and ended the relationship.[21] However, Finney promised to introduce her toRex Ingram ofVictorine Studios (whom he had known through his relationship with the lateBarbara La Marr), if she were prepared to travel to France, which she readily did.[21] After packing all their belongings and moving to France, Oberon and her mother found that their supposed benefactor avoided them,[22] although he had left a good word for Oberon with Ingram at the studios inNice.[22] Ingram appreciated Oberon's exotic appearance and quickly hired her to be an extra in a party scene in a film namedThe Three Passions.[23]
Oberon arrived in England for the first time in 1928, aged 17. She worked as a club hostess under the name Queenie O'Brien and played in minor and unbilled roles in various films. "I couldn't dance or sing or write or paint. The only possible opening seemed to be in some line in which I could use my face. This was, in fact, no better than a hundred other faces, but it did possess a fortunately photogenic quality," she told a journalist atFilm Weekly in 1939.[24]
Her film career received a major boost when directorAlexander Korda took an interest and gave her a small but prominent role, under the name Merle Oberon, asAnne Boleyn inThe Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) oppositeCharles Laughton. The film became a major success and she was then given leading roles in other productions, starting withThe Battle (1934) opposite Charles Boyer, andThe Broken Melody (1934).
Oberon then made two more films for Korda:The Private Life of Don Juan (1934) with Douglas Fairbanks was a disappointment butThe Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) withLeslie Howard, who became her lover for a while, was a huge hit.[25]
Oberon's career benefited from her relationship with, and later marriage to, Korda. He sold "shares" of her contract to producerSamuel Goldwyn and she moved to Hollywood. Her "mother" stayed behind in England. Oberon's career there began withFolies Bergère de Paris (1935) starringMaurice Chevalier.
Goldwyn put her inThe Dark Angel (1935), which earned her a soleAcademy Award for Best Actress nomination, thenThese Three (1936) forWilliam Wyler andBeloved Enemy (1936). The latter co-starredDavid Niven, with whom Oberon had a serious romance. According to one biographer, she even wanted to marry him, but he was not faithful to her.[26]
She was selected to star in Korda's 1937 film,I, Claudius, asMessalina, but her injuries in a car crash resulted in the film being abandoned.[27][28][Note 1] While in England she co-starred againstLaurence Olivier in the Korda comedyThe Divorce of Lady X (1938).
Back in Hollywood, Oberon appeared opposite Gary Cooper inThe Cowboy and the Lady (1938) and then played Cathy in the highly acclaimed filmWuthering Heights (oppositeLaurence Olivier; 1939). In England, Oberon madeOver the Moon (1939) andThe Lion Has Wings (1939) for Korda.
Oberon had darker skin, due to her Sri Lankan background.[12] This was not too much a problem in black-and-white film, but she did not "test well" during colour film tests.[12] According toPrincess Merle, the biography written byCharles Higham with Roy Moseley, Oberon suffered damage to her complexion in 1940 from a combination of cosmetic poisoning and an allergic reaction tosulfa drugs in an attempt to lighten her skin.[12] Alexander Korda sent her to a skin specialist in New York City, where she underwent severaldermabrasion procedures.[30] The results were only partially successful; her face had become noticeably pitted and indented unless concealed by makeup.[30]
Oberon starred inTil We Meet Again (1940) andAffectionately Yours (1941) for Warner Bros, thenThat Uncertain Feeling (1941) forErnst Lubitsch. Korda financedLydia (1941). None of these films was particularly successful at the box office. Oberon was one of many stars to make cameos inForever and a Day (1943) andStage Door Canteen (1943). She madeFirst Comes Courage (1943) at Columbia and played the female lead inThe Lodger (1944), a popular noir. Also admired wasDark Waters (1944).
Oberon had a big hit withA Song to Remember (1945), in which she played the French writerGeorge Sand. However, this was followed by a series of unsuccessful films at Universal:This Love of Ours (1946),Night in Paradise (1946), andTemptation (1946). She made some films for RKO,Night Song (1948), andBerlin Express (1948).
In France, Oberon appeared inPardon My French (1951), then24 Hours of a Woman's Life (1952) in England andAll Is Possible in Granada (1954). Back in Hollywood she played theEmpress Joséphine inDésirée (1954) and had a cameo role inDeep in My Heart (1954). She had the lead in a noir,The Price of Fear (1956). Oberon came out of retirement sporadically to appear in films such asOf Love and Desire (1963) andHotel (1967). Her last movie wasInterval (1973).
Charlotte Selby, Oberon’s possible birth grandmother, raised Oberon as her daughter until her death in 1937. In 1949, Oberon commissioned paintings of Charlotte based on an old photograph (but depicting Charlotte with lighter skin),[31] which hung in all her homes until Oberon's own death in 1979.[32]
Oberon married directorAlexander Korda in 1939. While married, she had a brief affair in 1941 withRichard Hillary, an RAF fighter pilot who had been badly burned in theBattle of Britain. They met while he was on a goodwill tour of the United States. He later wrote the best-selling autobiographyThe Last Enemy.
Oberon became Lady Korda when her husband was knighted in 1942 byKing George VI for his contribution to the war effort.[33] At the time, the couple was based atHills House inDenham, England. She divorced him in 1945 to marry the AmericancinematographerLucien Ballard. Ballard devised a special camera light for her, to obscure on film her facial scars suffered in the 1937 accident. The light became known asthe "Obie" (now commonly-called a "catch light") and has become ubiquitous in photography and videography.[34] She and Ballard divorced in 1949.
Oberon married Italian-born industrialist Bruno Pagliai in 1957, adopted two children with him and lived inCuernavaca,Morelos, Mexico. While married to Pagliai, she had an affair with modelMike Edwards, who was 33 years her junior.[35] In 1973, Oberon met the then 25 years her junior Dutch actorRobert Wolders while they filmedInterval. Oberon divorced Pagliai and married the 36-year-old Wolders in 1975.[36]
To avoid prejudice over her mixed background, Oberon dissembled that she was born and raised inTasmania, Australia, with her birth records being destroyed in a fire. The story eventually unravelled after her death.[37] Oberon is known to have been to Australia only twice.[38] Her first visit there was in 1965, on a film promotion. Another visit, toHobart, Tasmania, was scheduled, but after journalists in Sydney pressed her for details of her early life, she became ill and shortly afterwards left for Mexico.[38]
In 1978, the year before her death, she agreed to visit Hobart for a Lord mayoral reception. The Lord Mayor of Hobart became aware shortly before the reception that there was no proof she had been born in Tasmania, but he went ahead with the celebration to avoid embarrassment. Shortly after arriving at the reception, Oberon, to the disappointment of many, denied she had been born in Tasmania. She then excused herself, claiming illness, and was unavailable to answer questions about her background. On the way to the reception, she had told her driver that as a child she was on a ship with her father, who became ill when it was passing Hobart. They were taken ashore so he could be treated, thereby spending some time in her early years on the island. During her Hobart stay, she remained in her hotel, gave no other interviews, and did not visit the theatre named in her honour.[38]
Oberon retired afterInterval and moved with Wolders toMalibu, California, where she died in 1979, aged 68, after suffering astroke.[39] Her body was interred atForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inGlendale, California.[40]
Despite hiding her Asian heritage throughout her career, Oberon is regarded as the firstAsian nominee in the Best Actress category and the first Asian individual overall to receive an Oscar nomination. In 2023, discussion around Oberon's Academy Awards status resurfaced afterMalaysian actressMichelle Yeoh was nominated for and subsequently won the Best Actress award for her performance inEverything Everywhere All at Once. News outlets such asThe Hollywood Reporter opted to describe Yeoh as "the first self-identified Asian actress", while making note of Oberon hiding her identity.[5][6]
For her contributions to film, Oberon received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6274 Hollywood Boulevard, on February 8, 1960.
Michael Korda, nephew of Alexander Korda, published aroman à clef about Oberon after her death titledQueenie in 1985, which was adapted into a 1987 television miniseries starringMia Sara,Kirk Douglas,Sarah Miles,Claire Bloom,Leigh Lawson, andJoss Ackland.[41]
F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novelThe Last Tycoon was made into atelevision series withJennifer Beals playing Margo Taft, a character created for the TV series and based on Oberon.[42]
New Zealand authorWiti Ihimaera used Oberon's hidden South Asian and alleged Māori heritage as the inspiration for the novelWhite Lies,[43][44] which was turned into the 2013 movieWhite Lies.[45]
British authorLindsay Ashford, publishing under the pen name Lindsay Jayne Ashford, wrote the 2017 historical fiction novelWhisper of the Moon Moth based on Oberon. The novel is a fictionalised retelling of Oberon's early life, rise to Hollywood stardom, and turbulent personal life.
In December 2025, she was recognized asTurner Classic Movies Star of the Month.
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Screen Guild Players | This Love of Ours[46] |
| Wuthering Heights[47] |
| Year | Organization | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Academy Awards | Best Actress | The Dark Angel | Nominated | [48] |
| 1960 | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star - Motion Pictures | N/a | Honored | [49] |
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