A TRIBUTE TO PERSIS KHAMBATTA
(b. October 2, 1950 - d. August 18, 1998)


Persis Khambatta was referred to our public relations firm in 1985. At the time, Persis was one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood just starring with Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams in the motion picture Nighthawks and working on a new action feature at Universal. Her beauty was astounding: Miss India, top fashion model, Bombay TV star, and then she got the Star Trek Movie. The bald head was really shaved. She wanted the part. She dated Ted Kennedy, Stallone, Henry Kissinger, Rutger Hauer, and, uh, me. Yes, we had a short relationship. It was well known.

Then the problems for Persis and those who loved her began. Her mind and body began to deteriorate. She campaigned for Indira Ghandi, whom she loved. Religious fanatics wanted Ghandi and Persis dead. Death threats were the norm for Persis. She fluffed them off. They murdered Indira Ghandi. Then they murdered Persis in Bombay in 1998. Yes, murder. The media questioned the details of the death of Persis Khambatta. They wanted to know why there was no autopsy from the Bombay hospital where she disappeared after the hospital announced her death as a heart attack. Investigators for the media in the US and London found that she was constantly threatened by those who murdered Indira Ghandi. It would be very easy to inject air into her heart or turn a switch off in a hospital room. We know what happened. Persis reported her threats to Indian law enforcement officials constantly. After her death those records disappeared. The death notice including IMDB states: death by heart attack. That is not certain. There is no autopsy.

I will never forget our brief encounter. Demons entered her life. She fled back to her native India where her demons caught up with her. Always remembered.

-- Edward Lozzi, Beverly Hills