Merle Oberon

It was only after her death that this was revealed to have been a fabrication. Portman was interviewed for the August 2004 issue of Allure magazine; in that article, she was quoted as saying "Oh my God! I'm not black, but I know what it feels like!" This prompted her to follow up with a letter to their editor:. Throughout her life, Oberon maintained that she had been born in Tasmania, Australia. presidential campaign. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to Motion Pictures, at 6250 Hollywood Boulevard. Portman spends some of her free time involved in causes such as financing small-scale women's projects in Africa and the Democrats' 2004 U.S. She was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Portman graduated from Harvard University in 2003 with a degree in psychology.

She married twice more, to Italian-born Mexican industrialist Bruno Pagliai (two adopted children) and Dutch actor Robert Wolders, before her retirement to Malibu, California, where she died after suffering a stroke. Portman has been a vegetarian since she was eight years old. Merle Oberon divorced Sir Alexander Korda in 1945, to marry cinematographer Lucien Ballard. Portman appeared on Sesame Street and as of 2004 has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman ten times. During her time as a film star, Oberon went to great lengths to disguise her mixed-race background and when her dark-skinned mother moved in with her in Hollywood, she masqueraded as Oberon's maid. In 2005, she won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her role as Alice in Closer. She went on to appear as Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939), as George Sand in A Song to Remember (1945), and as Empress Josephine in Désirée (1954). Portman was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in 1999 for her role as Ann August in Anywhere But Here (Angelina Jolie won that year for Girl, Interrupted).

Merle Oberon was scarred for life, but skilled lighting technicians prevented her injuries being spotted by cinema audiences. She is one of dozens of celebrities who played themselves in a cameo appearance in the 2001 comedy Zoolander. She was to star in Korda's film of I, Claudius (1937) as Messalina, but a serious car accident resulted in filming being abandoned. She is known among Star Wars fans for her role as Padmé Amidala in the prequels, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. She received her only Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for The Dark Angel (1935). Portman went on to charm critics and viewers alike in Beautiful Girls, and played a minor part in Everyone Says I Love You. Oberon's career went on to greater heights partly as a result of her relationship with and later marriage to director Alexander Korda, who had persuaded her to take the name under which she became famous. That role began a pattern of portraying characters that are unusually smart, mature, and/or precocious for their ages.

In 1934, she played the female lead in The Scarlet Pimpernel, opposite Leslie Howard. After being introduced to acting agents, she made her movie début at the age of twelve, playing a child who befriends a much older assassin in Luc Besson's Léon. Her first major film role was as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). She was discovered in a pizza parlor at the age of eleven by an agent for Revlon, who wanted her to model. Initially she worked as a club hostess under the name Queenie O'Brien and played in minor and unbilled rolls in various films. She was born in Jerusalem but her family soon relocated to Maryland, then Connecticut, before settling down on Long Island. Born in Bombay, India to an Anglo-Irish father and an Anglo-Sinhalese mother, Constance Selby, who gave birth to Merle at the age of 15 and allowed her to be raised as her sister, Merle came to England for the first time in 1928. Her ethnic background is Polish-Jewish.

Merle Oberon (February 19, 1911 - November 23, 1979), born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson, was a film actress, known for her sultry looks. 'Portman' is a stage name taken from her grandmother's maiden name. Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981) is an Israeli-American actress. The Seagull (2001). The Diary Of Anne Frank (1999).

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Closer (2004, directed by Mike Nichols). True (2004, directed by Tom Tykwer). Garden State (2004, written and directed by Zach Braff).

Cold Mountain (2003, written and directed by Anthony Minghella). Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002). Zoolander (2001). Where the Heart Is (2000).

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999). Anywhere But Here (1999). Mars Attacks (1996, directed by Tim Burton). Everyone Says I Love You (1996, written and directed by Woody Allen).

Beautiful Girls (1996, directed by Ted Demme). Heat (1995). Developing (short) (1995). Léon (1994).