Princess Merle: The Romantic Life of Merle Oberon

by Charles Higham, Roy Moseley

An intimate profile of actress Merle Oberon details her background, film career, love affairs, health and personal problems, friendships, and later life

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

317 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Charles Higham was an author and poet. Higham was a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Oberon led (even more so in retrospect) a fascinating life. She was unable to truly let her hair down and reveal her true background for the better part of her existence on Earth. The book is compelling, detailed and usually very interesting. Thing is, there is a great deal of things the author writes about (specific details... smells, sights, feelings, etc...) that he couldn't possibly know, which sometimes lends a fabricated air to the story. It's almost set up like a novel, with this hovering, bitter, wraithlike presence calling out to Merle through her life, when Merle probably barely gave the person a second thought except occasionally. This book was trumped later when one of her relatives discovered that her mother was not really her mother, but her grandmother! Anyway, this is an arresting account of Merle's life and career and her many loves and losses, but I can never 100% trust the man who tried hard to paint Errol Flynn as a Nazi (and was later discredited in practically every sense.) My favorite part was her reaction during the screening of Hotel.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merle Oberon, who is quite forgotten now from the mainstream audience, was a major star of the British and American screen, famous as much for her exquisite beauty as for her glamourous lifestyle. Higham, always a good and reliable biographer, digs into Oberon's tumultuous life with style and seriousness, and the result is not only the intimate portrait of a complex woman but also an interesting painting of old Hollywood. What makes this bio a compulsive read is that Oberon hid an incredible secret (also revealed in Korda's novel QUEENIE, based on her story), which makes her almost a tragic figure, and had a fascinatingly rich (and, yes, as corny as it may sound, romantic) love life.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only seen one Merle Oberon movie ("Wuthering Heights"), but her name comes up often in other celebrity biographies I've read, so I was curious to know more about her. This book does a good job telling her story, yet I have to wonder if the authors actually liked her. Not that I would expect them to white wash her - they were very honest about her bad points but also included her many good points. It's just that something about their style bothered me, but I can't quite put my finger on what. So a good book, just not the best biography I've ever read.

[Annie Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea of the complex, and fascinating woman Merle Oberon was behind te facade of her stardom. This excellent biography captures that perfectly.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

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