Lal Chand Mehra(1897-1980)

Lal Chand Mehra , working as actor and assistant in the old Hollywood system and as educator/lecturer in California during those times, made a contribution to improving Americans' limited knowledge of his native India.Born to a prominent Hindu family, he did his undergraduate studies which included English, at the University of Punjab.Relocating to the US in the twenties, he completed graduate school at the University of California in Berkeley in education and philosophy.His first film work was for the late silent King of Kings, for which he did the Hindustani titles and appeared as an extra. Some of his later movie bits in what were known as "turban wrapper" roles went uncredited but he was also active behind the scenes consulting on details involving India. He was attaché for the visiting India hockey team during the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932. He married a concert violinist there, Georgia Williams, in 1933 and also lived in San Francisco.Through the UCLA extension he gave talks and radio presentations on Indian culture and current events.He died in 1980.