Persis Khambatta

Persis Khambatta
Persis Khambatta having her head shaved for Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Born	2 October 1948(1948-10-02) Bombay, India
Died	18 August 1998 (aged 49) Mumbai, India

Persis Khambatta (2 October 1948  – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model, actress, and author.

Early life

Persis Khambatta was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. She was of Parsi ethnicity and Zoroastrian religion.

Career

Khambatta began modeling at the age of 13. At age 15, Khambatta became Miss India 1965, dressed in off-the-rack clothes she bought at the last minute.^[1]

She participated in the Miss Universe 1965 pageant, but did not achieve much success in Bollywood or other Indian movie industries, partially due to her relatively Western looks, which appeared unconventional for most Indian audiences. She later entered the world of international movies.

Khambatta became a model for companies such as Revlon. In 1975, she had small roles in Conduct Unbecoming and The Wilby Conspiracy. She went on to a brief movie career that included the role for which she is most recognized, as navigator Lieutenant Ilia, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, (1979).^[1]

This led to roles in Nighthawks (1981), Megaforce (1982), and Warrior of the Lost World (1985), but she never again experienced the acting success she had found in Star Trek. Some Indian sources have claimed that her career decline was related to her refusal to strip for films or pose nude for Playboy for film promotion.^[2]

In 1979, she became the first citizen of India to present an Academy Award.^[3]

In 1985, she returned to India and tried to establish herself as a Bollywood actress. However, her sole Bollywood film Shingora was not a box-office success. Khambatta returned to Hollywood and performed in guest roles on various television series, such as Mike Hammer and MacGyver.

Khambatta was seriously injured in 1980, following a car crash in Germany, which left her with a large scar on her head. In 1983, she underwent a bypass operation.^[1]

In 1997, she wrote and published a coffee table book, called Pride of India, which featured several former Miss Indias. The book was dedicated to Mother Teresa and part of the royalties went to the Missionaries of Charity.

Her final appearance on film and TV in an acting part was that of an Indian ambassador in the pilot episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Personal life

Khambatta dated Sylvester Stallone, Henry Kissinger, Ted Kennedy, Rutger Hauer and Edward Lozzi at various times.

Death

In 1998, Khambatta was taken to the Marine Hospital in south Mumbai complaining of chest pains. She died that Wednesday of a heart attack. Her funeral was held in Mumbai, 19 August 1998. She was 49. However, not all have accepted Persis Khambatta's death as being from natural causes. Edward Lozzi, the Beverly Hill public relations executive and a former boyfriend of Khambatta in 1985-86, sent a letter of concern to the authorities in India about the threats to her life he witnessed in the United States from political fanatics in India. Khambatta had been a strong supporter of Indira Gandhi and even campaigned for her before her assassination. Lozzi hired a private investigator in Bombay (now Mumbai) to investigate the autopsy, the body, the death certificate and to interview the hospital officials where she supposedly died. None of this was made public to anyone except that her body was cremated. Lozzi's media company shortly thereafter sent out a press release announcing his fears that Persis Khambatta's death was due to foul play. ^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Associated Press obituary, Wednesday 19 August 1998 01:51 AM EDT
2. ^ Ageless, timeless women, Ashok Banker, in Rediff, February 26, 2000
3. ^ Welcome to rediff.com: Take the Movies Quiz!

The Globe 1998 November 10th New York Post October 20th, 1998 Beverly Hills 213 Magazine November 1998

External links

• Persis Khambatta at the Internet Movie Database
• Persis Khambatta at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Persis Khambatta Tribute Page
• Persis Khambatta - In Memoriam
• Persis Khambatta - Lt. Ilia
• Ageless, timeless women