Helen Ann Richardson Khan (née Richardson; born 21 November 1938), known mononymously as Helen, is an Indian actress and dancer. One of the highest-paid dancers of her time, she has appeared in over 750 films, making her a prolific performer in Hindi cinema. Known for her sensual cabaret and nautch performances on screen and glamorous fashion statements, which often incorporated colourful wigs and contact lenses, she is cited in the media as one of the greatest and most popular dancers of India. As an actress, Helen frequently played bold, westernised antagonists in a number of films. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has been called the "Cabaret Queen" of Indian cinema and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2009.
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Early life and background
Helen Ann Richardson was born on 21 November 1938 in Rangoon, Burma to an Anglo-Indian father and a Burmese mother. Her father's name was George Desmier and her mother's name was Marlene. She has a brother named Roger and a sister named Jennifer. Their father died during World War II. The family then trekked to Dibrugarh of Assam in 1943 in order to escape from the Japanese occupation of Burma. Helen told Filmfare during an interview in 1964: ...we trekked alternately through wilderness and hundreds of villages, surviving on the generosity of people, for we were penniless, with no food and few clothes. Occasionally, we met British soldiers who provided us with transport, found us refuge and treated our blistered feet and bruised bodies and fed us. By the time we reached Dibrugarh in Assam, our group had been reduced to half. Some had fallen ill and been left behind, some had died of starvation and disease. My mother miscarried along the way. The survivors were admitted to the Dibrugarh hospital for treatment. 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, and sadly my brother died there due to smallpox". She left school to support her family because her mother's salary as a nurse was not enough to feed a family of four. In a documentary called Queen of the Nautch girls, Helen said she was 19 years old when she got her big break in Howrah Bridge.
