MANILA, Philippines—During its glorious past, Hollywood created glamorous “back stories” for its stars. To begin with, they couldn’t possess ordinary names. Stars then had names like Valentino or Swanson. It was only after Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando had introduced a new kind of stardom that smelled of the earth that ordinary names become acceptable.

Glamorous era

Now, movie stars need not look perfect like Robert Taylor or be as smashingly gorgeous as Ava Gardner. Would Julia Roberts have made it during the glamorous era of Arlene Dahl and Joan Crawford? I think not.

In those days, any hint of scandal was conveniently “eliminated” by press agents who were hired by the big studios to keep the image of their contract stars wholesome and squeaky-clean.

It was unheard of that a star like Merle Oberon would be anything else but a proper English lady. She actually came from Tasmania, a little-known island south of Australia. Oberon went to Hollywood via England and was married to director Alexander Korda.

The actress starred in many successful romantic dramas. In fact, she and Laurence Olivier became Hollywood’s most romantic pair after the success of “Wuthering Heights,” where the former played the beautiful Catherine opposite Olivier’s dark and brooding Heathcliff—never mind if Olivier really hated her guts, and vice-versa.

Oberon was also considered one of Tinseltown’s most glamorous actresses. Years after, it was revealed that the Indian woman she introduced to the world as her maid was actually her mother, who was part Maori, from New Zealand.

First wife

Brenda Marshall came to Hollywood after Merle. But, while William Holden’s first wife said that she was born in the Philippines—in Negros Occidental, to be exact—she never admitted in public that she was half Filipino.

In the mid-’50s, Anna Kashfi did the reverse: She claimed she was part Indian. Brando, who always had a penchant for dark-skinned beauties, was said to have married the actress for her “native” background. Their marriage soured later when the actor realized that Anna’s exotic family background was only created by Kashfi and her agent to land the Asian roles she was pursuing early on in her career.

Soon, they were exchanging serious accusations against each other: Brando claimed that Kashfi was an alcoholic and a drug dependent. On the other hand, the actress accused Brando of being a womanizing bisexual who physically and verbally abused her! The stars had truly come down to earth—with a loud thud.