Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan, better known as Zohra Sehgal,was born into a Sunni Muslim Rohilla Pathan family of Rampur, UttarPradesh, on 27th April, 1912 in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. However,unlike most other children of traditional households, Zohra Sehgal wasa tomboy, who enjoyed climbing trees and playing games. Alwaysrebellious, she saw in her teens Uday Shankar perform in Dehra Dun,during a vacation there, and that acted as the turning point of herlife.
She traveled all the way across India, West Asia and Europe by car withan uncle who was close to her. On her return, she was sent, clad in aburqa, to Queen Mary's Girls College, Lahore, a place of higherlearning for daughters of aristocratic families. After she finished hercollege, she joined Uday Shankar's dance troupe, and traveled to Japan,West Asia, Europe and America. During this time, she met KameshwarSehgal, a Hindu and eight years younger to herself, and fell in lovewith him. After initial opposition from her parents, the couple gotmarried, and in spite of Kameshwar's willingness to convert to Islam tomarry Zohra, nobody insisted on it. The two had a civil marriage inAugust 1942. (As Khushwant Singh noted, Jawaharlal Nehru was to attendthe wedding reception, but he was arrested a couple of days earlier forsupporting Gandhi's Quit India Movement.
The couple first worked in Uday Shankar's dance institute atAlmora.When it shut down, they migrated to Lahore and founded their ownDance Institute. However, the growing communal tension prior to thePartition of India made them feel unwelcome, and they went to Bombay,where Zohra joined Prithviraj Kapur's theater as a stage actress andworked there for 14 years.
They had two children, who had the choice of being Hindu or Muslim. Fora while they accepted both, then discarded them. By that time, Zohrabecame an atheist. Her husband was all along a 'non-religious' man.
Zohra had acted on the stage in different parts of India, includingplays performed for jails inmates. According to Khushwant Singh, sheonce stayed back to witness an execution in the Ferozepore jail afterstaging a play there.
After her husband's suicide, Zohra first moved to Delhi, and then wentto London. When she did not get roles as a dancer or an actress, shetook on odd jobs like working in the India Tea Centre. Then she got herfirst break in the films and was signed by Arthur Rank and MerchantIvory productions.
In India, she became well-known after the appeared in the TV seriesMullah Naseeruddin. She has since appeared in many Bollywood as British(mostly British Indian) movies.
She traveled all the way across India, West Asia and Europe by car withan uncle who was close to her. On her return, she was sent, clad in aburqa, to Queen Mary's Girls College, Lahore, a place of higherlearning for daughters of aristocratic families. After she finished hercollege, she joined Uday Shankar's dance troupe, and traveled to Japan,West Asia, Europe and America. During this time, she met KameshwarSehgal, a Hindu and eight years younger to herself, and fell in lovewith him. After initial opposition from her parents, the couple gotmarried, and in spite of Kameshwar's willingness to convert to Islam tomarry Zohra, nobody insisted on it. The two had a civil marriage inAugust 1942. (As Khushwant Singh noted, Jawaharlal Nehru was to attendthe wedding reception, but he was arrested a couple of days earlier forsupporting Gandhi's Quit India Movement.
The couple first worked in Uday Shankar's dance institute atAlmora.When it shut down, they migrated to Lahore and founded their ownDance Institute. However, the growing communal tension prior to thePartition of India made them feel unwelcome, and they went to Bombay,where Zohra joined Prithviraj Kapur's theater as a stage actress andworked there for 14 years.
They had two children, who had the choice of being Hindu or Muslim. Fora while they accepted both, then discarded them. By that time, Zohrabecame an atheist. Her husband was all along a 'non-religious' man.
Zohra had acted on the stage in different parts of India, includingplays performed for jails inmates. According to Khushwant Singh, sheonce stayed back to witness an execution in the Ferozepore jail afterstaging a play there.
After her husband's suicide, Zohra first moved to Delhi, and then wentto London. When she did not get roles as a dancer or an actress, shetook on odd jobs like working in the India Tea Centre. Then she got herfirst break in the films and was signed by Arthur Rank and MerchantIvory productions.
In India, she became well-known after the appeared in the TV seriesMullah Naseeruddin. She has since appeared in many Bollywood as British(mostly British Indian) movies.
BornApril 27, 1912
DiedJuly 10, 2014(102)
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
Actress
Choreography
- Alternative names
- Zhora Saigal
- Born
- Died
- July 10,2014
- New Delhi, India(cardiac arrest)
- Spouse
- Kameshwar SegalAugust 14, 1942 - 1959 (his death, 2 children)
- Relatives
- Ayesha Raza Mishra(Niece or Nephew)
- Other worksShe performed in the ballet, "Ram Gopal and His Dancers and Musicians," at the Queen's Theatre in London, England with Ram Gopal, Malika Devi, Manjulika Bhandari, Tazi Sheharazad, Surinder Sandhu, and Anura in the cast.
- TriviaShe was the first actor to have appeared inDoctor Who (1963) to have lived to the age of 100, and at the time was the oldest living cast member of the show. Following her death on July 10, 2014,Olaf Pooley became the oldest living cast member and remained so until his death on July 14, 2015. Sehgal remained the longest-lived cast member until 2019, when she was surpassed byEarl Cameron.
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