In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon was biracial. Born in Bombay into abject poverty in 1911, Oberon's fate seemed sealed in her racist colonial society. But a series of events, lies, men and an obsession with controlling her own image -- even if it meant bleaching her own skin -- changed Oberon's path forever.
This episode was written and performed by Halley Bondy, a writer and journalist whose work has appeared on NBC, The Outline, Eater NY, Paste Magazine, Scary Mommy, Bustle, Vice and more. She's an author of five young adult books plus a handful of plays and is a writer / producer for the podcast "Masters of Scale." She lives in Brooklyn with husband / cheerleader Tim and her amazing toddler Robin.
16: Marlon Brando 1971-1973
15: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part Two
14: Bacall, After Bogart
13: Bogart, Before Bacall
12: Madonna, from Sean to Warren, Part One
11: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes: Katharine Hepburn, 1938
10: Follies of 1938, Chapter 2: Kay Francis, Pretty Poison
9: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Part 2: The Many Loves of Ida Lupino
8: Follies of 1938, Part 1: Hollywood’s Greatest Year
7: The Many Loves of Howard Hughes, Chapter 1
6: Isabella Rossellini in the 1990s
5: The Lives, Deaths and Afterlives of Judy Garland
4: (The Printing of) the Legend of Frances Farmer
3: Happy 110th Birthday, Val Lewton
2: Frank Sinatra in Outer Space
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