Old Hollywood Stars Who Were Forced to Live a Double Life

Long before audiences knew her secret, Merle Oberon became an international star through The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Dark Angel, and Wuthering Heights. Her elegance helped her play aristocratic women, yet that success depended on concealing where she truly came from and why.

Born in Bombay to a Sri Lankan mother and a white British father, Oberon passed as white throughout her career. Publicists claimed she came from Tasmania and that a fire destroyed her records. She maintained the invented background until her death in 1979, in public.