Persis Khambatta

Persis Khambatta married Hollywood actor, Cliff Taylor, in June 1981. The two had met just weeks before their marriage. However, the marriage did not work for long and ended two months later as they filed for divorce. She then married Sandy Naren. They lived in Des Moines.

In the early 1980s, she was seriously injured in a car crash in Germany and had a heart bypass surgery.

In 1998, Persis Khambatta was taken to the Marine Hospital in Bombay, after she complained of chest pain. She died of a massive heart attack on August 18, 1998. She was only 49 then. Her funeral was held in Mumbai the following day.

Persis Khambatta was born on October 2, 1948, in Mumbai, India in a middle class Parsi family. Her father left the family when she was two. It was her mother who single-handedly raised her.

Her venture into films and television wasn’t a well thought of or a planned move. In fact, she was casually shot by a well-known photographer. However, the pictures came out brilliantly and were used for a successful campaign of a soap brand.

Soon after the soap brand campaign, she started getting calls from advertising and modelling agency. It seemed as if she was destined to take the road to glamour. Her pictures had done all the talking.

Persis Khambatta’s modelling career started as early as when she was 13. She first appeared for the soap brand Rexona. The poster girl of the brand, Khambatta’s striking beauty and photogenic face set the stage for her modelling career s.

By the age of 17, she was already ruling the ramp and the advertisements. She won the coveted title of Femina Miss India and Miss Photogenic award.

In 1965, Persis Khambatta represented the country in the Miss Universe pageant. She was the second Femina Miss India and overall the third Indian woman to participate in the Miss Universe. She modelled for multinational companies such as Revlon, Garden Vareli, Air India and so on.

After her international exposure, Persis Khambatta modelled both in India and abroad. In 1967, she made her Bollywood debut in the avant-garde film ‘Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein’ or ‘Bombay By Night’ directed by K.A. Abbas. In it, she played a cabaret singer Lily

Bollywood’s lack of professionalism led her to move to London, where she pursued her modelling career on a full throttle. After modelling in London, she left for United States where her career as a Hollywood star kickstarted.

The magnum opus of Khambatta’s career came in 1975 when she bagged a lead role as Lieutenant Ilia, an alien navigator of the starship USS Enterprise in the Hollywood flick ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’. Though Khambatta had done a couple of Hollywood flicks by then, ‘Star Trek’ made her an indomitable figure of the acting world. She created cinematic history by appearing as the first ever bald film heroine ever. ‘Star Trek’ was hugely successful and became the centrepiece of Khambatta’s filmography.