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WITH A DESI SECRET
THE HOLLYWOOD STAR
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Actress Merle Oberon, who rose to fame in the 1930s, spent her life hiding her Indian heritage and passing as white
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Born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson in British Raj-era Bombay, she later claimed to be a native of Tasmania, Australia
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She arrived in London aged 17 and was cast as Anne Boleyn in a film by Alexander Korda whom she later married
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Merle Oberon soon became a leading lady, starring in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel,' 'Wuthering Heights,' 'The Dark Angel' and other films
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All along, she claimed to have been raised by aristocratic Indian godparents after her British father died
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It wasn't until after her death in 1979 that her real origin story was revealed - she was of Anglo-Indian ancestry including Sri Lankan and Maori
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The biracial identity she rejected held more secrets - the woman thought to be Merle's mother was really her grandmother; her 'sister' Charlotte was her birth mother
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Merle Oberon inspired characters in two books - F Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Last Tycoon' and Witi Ihimaera's 'White Lies'
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