Editing Merle Oberon (section)

==Acting career==
[[File:Merle-Oberon-1937.jpg|thumb|left|Merle Oberon in 1936]]
===Early roles===
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 at ''Film Weekly'' in 1939.<ref>''Film Weekly'', May 1939, p. 7.</ref> 
===Alexander Korda and British stardom===
Her film career received a major boost when director [[Alexander Korda]] took an interest and gave her a small but prominent role, under the name Merle Oberon, as [[Anne Boleyn]] in ''[[The Private Life of Henry VIII]]'' (1933) opposite [[Charles Laughton]]. The film became a major success and she was then given leading roles in other productions, starting with ''[[The Battle (1934 film)|The Battle]]'' (1934) opposite Charles Boyer, and ''[[The Broken Melody (1934 film)|The Broken Melody]]'' (1934).

Oberon then made two more films for Korda: ''[[The Private Life of Don Juan]]'' (1934) with Douglas Fairbanks was a disappointment but ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934 film)|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' (1934) with [[Leslie Howard (actor)|Leslie Howard]], who became her lover for a while, was a huge hit.<ref>Higham and Mosley 1983, P. 94.</ref>

===Hollywood and Sam Goldwyn===
Oberon's career benefited from her relationship with, and later marriage to, Korda. He sold "shares" of her contract to producer [[Samuel Goldwyn]] and she moved to Hollywood. Her "mother" stayed behind in England. Oberon's career there began with ''[[Folies Bergère de Paris]]'' (1935) starring [[Maurice Chevalier]].

Goldwyn put her in ''[[The Dark Angel (1935 film)|The Dark Angel]]'' (1935), which earned her a sole [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] nomination, then ''[[These Three]]'' (1936) for [[William Wyler]] and ''[[Beloved Enemy]]'' (1936). The latter co-starred [[David 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.<ref>Munn [https://books.google.com/books?id=OrDFAwAAQBAJ&q=merle+oberon&pg=PT96 2010, p. 70.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425141721/https://books.google.com/books?id=OrDFAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT96&dq=david+niven+merle+oberon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMI2Ma5vui9xwIVgfCACh0M6AWK#v=onepage&q=merle%20oberon&f=false |date=25 April 2016 }}</ref>

[[File:Laurence Olivier Merle Oberon Wuthering Heights.jpg|thumb|300px|Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'' (1939)]]

She was selected to star in Korda's 1937 film, ''[[I, Claudius (film)|I, Claudius]]'', as [[Messalina]], but her injuries in a car crash resulted in the film being abandoned.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19370325&id=4uw-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dk0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5220,3578690&hl=en|title=Star's injuries halt production of film|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509022047/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19370325&id=4uw-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=Dk0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=5220,3578690&hl=en |archive-date=9 May 2016|newspaper=[[The Tuscaloosa News]]|date=25 March 1937|page=8}}</ref><ref>Graham, Sheilah. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19370404&id=jqtQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CyIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5649,4986274&hl=en "Hollywood gadabout."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518153258/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19370404&id=jqtQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CyIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5649,4986274&hl=en |date=18 May 2016 }} ''[[Milwaukee Journal]]'', 4 April 1937. Retrieved 5 January 2016.</ref>{{#tag:ref|In July 1937, [[United Press International|United Press]] correspondent Dan Rogers noted: "Beautiful Merle Oberon has two scars from her recent automobile accident, but movie fans will never see them. She is completely recovered, is entertaining again at her home... and will start a new picture here this month.... One [injury] was a slight cut on the left eyelid; it left no mark at all. The most serious hurt was to the back of her head; it left a scar but of course it is hidden by her thick hair. Just in front of her left ear is a fine perpendicular white line a half-inch long. So skilfully did surgeons do their job that this scar is invisible except at a range of a yard or less, in strong light."<ref name="Oberon Ready for Work">Rogers, Dan. "Merle Oberon ready for work after accident; scars will not mar beauty." ''[[Corpus Christi Caller-Times|Corpus Christi Times]]'' ([[United Press International|United Press]]), 7 July 1937. Retrieved 5 January 2016.</ref>|group=Note}} While in England she co-starred against [[Laurence Olivier]] in the Korda comedy ''[[The Divorce of Lady X]]'' (1938).

Back in Hollywood, Oberon appeared opposite Gary Cooper in ''[[The Cowboy and the Lady (1938 film)|The Cowboy and the Lady]]'' (1938) and then played Cathy in the highly acclaimed film ''[[Wuthering Heights (1939 film)|Wuthering Heights]]'' (opposite [[Laurence Olivier]]; 1939).

In England Oberon made ''[[Over the Moon (1939 film)|Over the Moon]]'' (1939) and ''[[The Lion Has Wings]]'' (1940) for Korda.

Oberon had darker skin, due to her Sri Lankan background.<ref name="Kodé" /> This was not too much a problem in black-and-white film, but she did not "test well" during colour film tests.<ref name="Kodé" /> According to ''Princess Merle'', the biography written by [[Charles Higham (biographer)|Charles Higham]] with Roy Moseley, Oberon suffered damage to her complexion in 1940 from a combination of cosmetic poisoning and an allergic reaction to [[sulfa drugs]] in an attempt to lighten her skin.<ref name="Kodé" /> Alexander Korda sent her to a skin specialist in New York City, where she underwent several [[dermabrasion]] procedures.<ref name=princess>Higham and Moseley 1983.{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref> The results were only partially successful; her face had become noticeably pitted and indented unless concealed by makeup.<ref name=princess/>

Oberon starred in ''[['Til We Meet Again|Til We Meet Again]]'' (1940) and ''[[Affectionately Yours]]'' (1941) for Warner Bros, then ''[[That Uncertain Feeling (film)|That Uncertain Feeling]]'' (1941) for [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. Korda financed ''[[Lydia (film)|Lydia]]'' (1941). None of these films was particularly successful at the box office. Oberon was one of many stars to make cameos in ''[[Forever and a Day (1943 film)|Forever and a Day]]'' (1943) and ''[[Stage Door Canteen (film)|Stage Door Canteen]]'' (1943). She made ''[[First Comes Courage]]'' (1943) at Columbia and played the female lead in ''[[The Lodger (1944 film)|The Lodger]]'' (1944), a popular noir. Also admired was ''[[Dark Waters (1944 film)|Dark Waters]]'' (1944).

Oberon had a big hit with ''[[A Song to Remember]]'' (1945), in which she played the French writer [[George Sand]]. However, this was followed by a series of unsuccessful films at Universal: ''[[This Love of Ours]]'' (1946), ''[[Night in Paradise (1946 film)|Night in Paradise]]'' (1946), and ''[[Temptation (1946 film)|Temptation]]'' (1946). She made some films for RKO, ''[[Night Song (1948 film)|Night Song]]'' (1948), and ''[[Berlin Express]]'' (1948).

===Later career===
In France, Oberon appeared in ''[[Pardon My French (1951 film)|Pardon My French]]'' (1951), then ''[[24 Hours of a Woman's Life]]'' (1952) in England and ''[[All Is Possible in Granada (1954 film)|All Is Possible in Granada]]'' (1954). Back in Hollywood she played the [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Empress Joséphine]] in ''[[Désirée (film)|Désirée]]'' (1954) and had a cameo role in ''[[Deep in My Heart (1954 film)|Deep in My Heart]]'' (1954). She had the lead in a noir, ''[[The Price of Fear (1956 film)|The Price of Fear]]'' (1956).

Oberon came out of retirement sporadically to appear in films such as ''[[Of Love and Desire]]'' (1963) and ''[[Hotel (1967 film)|Hotel]]'' (1967).

Her last movie was ''[[Interval (film)|Interval]]'' (1973).