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Love, Queenie : Merle Oberon, Hollywood's first South Asian star Cover Image Book

Love, Queenie : Merle Oberon, Hollywood's first South Asian star

Merle Oberon, Hollywood's first South Asian star (portion title)
Sen, Mayukh (author.).

Summary: Merle Oberon made history when she was announced as a nominee for the Best Actress Oscar in 1936. Hers was a face that "launched a thousand ships," a so-called exotic beauty who the camera loved and fans adored. Her nomination for The Dark Angel marked the first time the Academy recognized a performer of color. Almost ninety years before actress Michelle Yeoh would triumph in the same category, Oberon, born to a South Asian mother and white father in India, broke through a racial barrier -- but no one knew it. Oberon was "passing" for white. Born into poverty, Queenie Thompson dreamt of big-screen stardom. By sheer force of will, she immigrated to London in her teens and met film mogul Alexander Korda, who christened her "Merle Oberon" and invented the story that she was born to European parents in Tasmania. Her new identity was her ticket into Hollywood. When she was only in her twenties, Oberon dazzled as Cathy in Wuthering Heights opposite Laurence Olivier. Against the backdrop of Hollywood's racially exclusionary Golden Age and the United States's hostile immigration policy towards South Asians in the twentieth century, Oberon rose to the highest echelons of the film-world elite, all while keeping a secret that could have destroyed her career.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781324050810
  • ISBN: 1324050810
  • ISBN: 9781324123521
  • ISBN: 1324123524
  • Physical Description: print
    xxiv, 288 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2025]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-278), filmography (pages 217-219) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Introduction -- A note on naming conventions -- My name is Queenie (1911-1929) -- I have no mother (1929-1932) -- Anne sans tête (1932-1933) -- My one ambition (1934) -- To see my mother again (1934-1935) -- Papa Goldwyn, Father Korda (1935-1937) -- An accent of my own (1937-1938) -- I am Heathcliff! (1938-1940) -- My dearest joy (1940-1942) -- I wasn't born heroic (1942-1945) -- I ruled my own life (1945-1948) -- To belong to this country (1948-1953) -- Like a virus (1953-1956) -- Being Mrs. Pagliai (1956-1965) -- The last of the great faces (1965-1971) -- Where I belong (1971-1973) -- Local girl makes good! (1973-1978) -- It had haunted me ever since (1978-1979) -- Epilogue -- Acknowledgments -- Filmography -- Notes -- Selected bibliography -- Illustration credits -- Index.

Search for related items by subject

Subject:
Oberon, Merle 1911-1979
Actresses India Biography
Actresses United States Biography
Motion picture actors and actresses United States Biography
Leading ladies (Actresses) United States Biography
Genre:
Biographies.

Available copies

  • 12 of 12 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Onslow County Public Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 12 total copies.
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Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Jacksonville Main Library BIO OBERON (Text) 36015000762308 Adult Biography Available -
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