Helen
Birthday:
21 November 1938, Yangon, British Burma
Birth Name:
Helen Jairag Richardson
Height:
166 cm
Helen was born in Burma to an Anglo Indian father named George Desmier and a Burmese mother named Marlene. Her father went missing during the Second World War. Her family migrated to India in 1942 as refugees in order to escape from the Japanese invasion of Burma. Helen was introduced to Bollywood in 1953 by the famous dancer Cuckoo. She got her br...
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Helen was born in Burma to an Anglo Indian father named George Desmier and a Burmese mother named Marlene. Her father went missing during the Second World War. Her family migrated to India in 1942 as refugees in order to escape from the Japanese invasion of Burma. Helen was introduced to Bollywood in 1953 by the famous dancer Cuckoo. She got her break in 1958 when she performed the song 'Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo' in the movie Howrah Bridge. Helen rarely got roles as the lead heroine in movies. So, she opted dancing which proved to be her fortune. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's, she danced in more than 700 movies establishing herself as a prolific dancer. She was known for wearing different colors of wigs, contact lenses and skimpy outfits in her movies. In the late 1970's, her demand started diminishing because of her age along with the entry of younger dancers like Padma Khanna, Jayshree T, Bindu, Aruna Irani and Kalpana Iyer. In 1979, she won the best supporting actress award for her role as Vinod Khanna's Chinese wife in 'Lahu Ke Do Rang'. She officially retired from movies in 1981 after marrying screenwriter Salim Khan. Show less «
I could never walk on the streets. I had to wear a veil. They used to go berserk when they saw me.
I could never walk on the streets. I had to wear a veil. They used to go berserk when they saw me.
[on Helen's deadly trek to India from Burma during World War] Mother and I had been virtually reduced to skeletons and my brother's conditio...Show more »
[on Helen's deadly trek to India from Burma during World War] Mother and I had been virtually reduced to skeletons and my brother's condition was critical. We spent two months in hospital. When we recovered, we moved to Calcutta. Show less «
I was dancing in those daring outfits right until the age of 46. Today's girls are out by the time they're thirty.
I was dancing in those daring outfits right until the age of 46. Today's girls are out by the time they're thirty.
Am blessed to have had Ashaji and Lataji singing so many songs for me. Geeta Dutt songs gave me the fame initially. Credit to the music dire...Show more »
Am blessed to have had Ashaji and Lataji singing so many songs for me. Geeta Dutt songs gave me the fame initially. Credit to the music directors is a must. Every composer has composed music for the songs sung by me. I need to mention obviously the greatest musicians like O.P.Nayyar, Salil Chowdhry, S.D.Burman, Shankar Jaikishen, Kalyanji Anandji, R.D.Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal in Hindi and M.S.Viswanathan in Tamil films I did. I enjoyed dancing alongside stalwarts Padmini and Vyjanthimala.It was my passion for dancing that i could dance in films right from the age of 15 in 1954 to 46 in 1985 continuously. Show less «
Helen's Photos
