---
name: "Merle Oberon"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/merle-oberon"
fi1m_id: "merle-oberon"
imdb_id: "nm0643353"
tmdb_id: 30225
wikidata_id: "Q230958"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "19 February 1911"
died: "23 November 1979"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-24T23:17:07.238464+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Merle Oberon

## Identity

Merle Oberon

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/merle-oberon
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** merle-oberon
- **IMDb ID:** nm0643353
- **TMDB ID:** 30225
- **Wikidata ID:** Q230958
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Oberon, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230958, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643353/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30225

Actor. Born 19 February 1911 in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India [now Mumbai, Maharashtra, India]. Died 23 November 1979.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 19 February 1911, Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India [now Mumbai, Maharashtra, India]
- **Died:** 23 November 1979
- **Active:** 1933–1939
- **Also known as:** Queenie Thompson, Queenie O'Brien, Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 other
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1910s 32 (1), 1930s 76 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merle_Oberon, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230958, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643353/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30225

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Wuthering Heights*](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson) was a British actress of Anglo-Indian origin. She was born on 19 February 1911 in Bombay, British India, and died on 23 November 1979 in Los Angeles, California.

She began her career in British cinema in the early 1930s and achieved early success as Anne Boleyn in *The Private Life of Henry VIII* (1933). She later moved to Hollywood, where she appeared in films including *The Scarlet Pimpernel* (1934), *These Three* (1936) and *Wuthering Heights* (1939), in which she played Catherine 'Cathy' Earnshaw Linton.

Other notable roles include *The Lodger* (1944), *Berlin Express* (1948) and *Désirée* (1954). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for *The Dark Angel* (1935).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, screenonline.org.uk, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

### Performed in (1) — the average rests on these

- *Wuthering Heights* (1939), Fi1m 76, as Catherine 'Cathy' Earnshaw Linton — [page](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *The Birth of a Nation* (1915), Fi1m 32, as Confederate Soldier's Wife (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/the-birth-of-a-nation.md)

## Complete filmography (55)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Interval* (1973), as Serena Moore · Producer
- *Hotel* (1967), as The Duchess Caroline
- *The Oscar* (1966), as Merle Oberon
- *Of Love and Desire* (1963), as Katherine Beckmann
- *Assignment Foreign Legion* (1956), series, Actor
- *The Price of Fear* (1956), as Jessica Warren
- *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, Actor
- *Deep in My Heart* (1954), as Dorothy Donnelly
- *Désirée* (1954), as Empress Josephine
- *All Is Possible in Granada* (1954), as Margaret Faulson
- *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Mata Hari
- *Four Star Playhouse* (1952), series, as Martha, Margot Sterling, Carol
- *24 Hours of a Woman's Life* (1952), as Linda Venning
- *Dans la vie tout s'arrange* (1952), as Elizabeth Rockwell
- *Pardon My French* (1951), as Elizabeth Rockwell
- *Berlin Express* (1948), as Lucienne Mirbeau
- *Night Song* (1948), as Cathy Mallory
- *Temptation* (1946), as Ruby
- *Night in Paradise* (1946), as Delarai
- *This Love of Ours* (1945), as Karin Touzac
- *A Song to Remember* (1945), as George Sand
- *Dark Waters* (1944), as Leslie Calvin
- *The Lodger* (1944), as Kitty Langley
- *First Comes Courage* (1943), as Nicole Larsen
- *Stage Door Canteen* (1943), as Merle Oberon
- *Forever and a Day* (1943), as Marjorie Ismay
- *Lydia* (1941), as Lydia MacMillan
- *Affectionately Yours* (1941), as Sue Mayberry
- *That Uncertain Feeling* (1941), as Jill Baker
- *'Til We Meet Again* (1940), as Joan Ames
- *The Lion Has Wings* (1939), as Mrs. Richardson
- *Over the Moon* (1939), as Jane Benson
- *Wuthering Heights* (1939), as Catherine 'Cathy' Earnshaw Linton — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md)
- *The Cowboy and the Lady* (1938), as Mary Smith
- *The Divorce of Lady X* (1938), as Leslie Steele / Lady Claire Mere
- *I, Claudius* (1937), as Messalina
- *Beloved Enemy* (1936), as Helen Drummond
- *These Three* (1936), as Karen Wright
- *The Dark Angel* (1935), as Kitty Vane
- *Folies Bergère de Paris* (1935), as Baroness Genevieve Cassini
- *The Scarlet Pimpernel* (1934), as Lady Marguerite Blakeney
- *The Broken Melody* (1934), as Germaine Brissard
- *The Battle* (1934), as Mitsuko Yorisaka
- *The Private Life of Don Juan* (1934), as Antonita, a Dancer of Passionate Temperament
- *The Private Life of Henry VIII* (1933), as Anne Boleyn
- *For the Love of Mike* (1932), as Bit Part
- *Wedding Rehearsal* (1932), as Miss Hutchinson
- *Men of Tomorrow* (1932), as Ysobel d'Aunay
- *Aren't We All?* (1932), as Bit Part
- *Ebb Tide* (1932), as (uncredited)
- *Service for Ladies* (1932), as Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited)
- *Fascination* (1931), as Flower Seller
- *Never Trouble Trouble* (1931), as Minor Role
- *A Warm Corner* (1930), as Bit Part (uncredited)
- *The Three Passions* (1928), as Bit Part (uncredited)

## Gallery

- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-eab9e6606728.jpg) Merle Oberon — Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Merle_Oberon-publicity.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Earle Theater (1940)](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-894426690055.jpg) Earle Theater (1940) — Self Scanned, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/1940_-_Earle_Theater_-_19_Sep_MC_-_Allentown_PA.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Hans Michel: Filmplakat Scarlet Pimpernel, 1963](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-2e5856cd104c.jpg) Hans Michel: Filmplakat Scarlet Pimpernel, 1963 — Hans Michel / Rechteinhaberin: Sünke Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Hans_Michel_1963%2C_Scarlet_Pimpernel.jpg/1280px-Hans_Michel_1963%2C_Scarlet_Pimpernel.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Photo of Sir Laurence Olivier knighted 1947-page 144 and Merle Oberon from the 1939 film Wuthering Heights.](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-bc8cbf9535ff.jpg) Photo of Sir Laurence Olivier knighted 1947-page 144 and Merle Oberon from the 1939 film Wuthering Heights. — Wid's Films and Film Folk, inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Laurence_Olivier_Merle_Oberon_Wuthering_Heights.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-f38db1a4d21e.jpg) Merle Oberon — Image via TMDB
- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-496eb20f9498.jpg) Merle Oberon — Image via TMDB
- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-97fa079ed511.jpg) Merle Oberon — Image via TMDB
- ![David Niven, Merle Oberon, Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg at the Mayfair Ball of 1936.](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-aae5bbda55fc.jpg) David Niven, Merle Oberon, Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg at the Mayfair Ball of 1936. — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Mayfair_Ball_1936.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Photograph of Merle Oberon Caption reads as follows:LIFE MASKMerle Oberon, now in the film, Beloved Enemy, and soon to be seen with Charles Laughton in I, Claud (1937)](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-434bda587454.jpg) Photograph of Merle Oberon Caption reads as follows:LIFE MASKMerle Oberon, now in the film, Beloved Enemy, and soon to be seen with Charles Laughton in I, Claud (1937) — Robert Coburn, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Merle-Oberon-1937.jpg/1280px-Merle-Oberon-1937.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-0c552dc0345b.jpg) Merle Oberon — Image via TMDB
- ![Merle Oberon](https://film.one/media/person/7125/gallery-b082875b2e8c.jpg) Merle Oberon — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1936: Best Actress (nominated), for *The Dark Angel*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/merle-oberon