TEHRAN – Actress Mahchehreh Khalili, star of Iranian TV series such as “Mokhtarnameh” and “The Pahlavi Hat” and acclaimed movie “Wishbone”, has died of liver cancer in London. She was 44.

Her close friend and colleague Parastu Salehi announced her death news in an Instagram post on Friday.

Khalili had a degree in architecture from Oxford University and completed courses at Method Acting, a college school in London that provides acting classes and lessons.  
 
She was a grandchild of veteran actress Parvin Solemani and made her debut with Iraj Qaderi’s drama “Black Eyes” in 2000.

“Havana File” by Alireza Raisian, “Trap” by Sirus Alvand and “Mask” by Kazem Rastgoftar are some of the movies in which Khalili starred.

However, she did some of her best work in the TV series “In the Eye of the Wind” by Masud Jafari Jozani and “The Pahlavi Hat” by Ziaeddin Dorri, both of which chronicle part of contemporary Iranian history.

Khalili produced her masterpiece in “Mokhtarnameh”, director Davud Mirbaqeri’s TV series about an uprising organized by Mokhtar Saqafi after the events of Ashura, the 10th of Muharram, to take revenge against the killers of Imam Hussein (AS). She portrayed Jarieh, Mokhtar’s sister in the blockbuster.

Director Ali Atshani’s 2017 acclaimed drama “Wishbone” features one of her last appearances in the film industry.

Khalili who held dual citizenship in Tehran and London gave birth to her only son, Parvaz in Iran to let him have Iranian nationality.

“I wanted my son to be born in Iran. I wanted him to have an Iranian identity card and passport. This was very important for me, because I had lived far from Iran for twenty years, but I always wished to live in Iran, and I have always considered myself an Iranian,” Khalili had earlier said on Dorehami, an Iranian TV talk show hosted by director and actor Mehran Modiri.

Her close friend, actress Naeimeh Nezamdoost said on Saturday that there are no plans to transfer Khalili’s remains to Iran and she will be buried in a cemetery in London.   
 
Photo: Actress Mahchehreh Khalili in an undated photo. (Tasnim/Foad Ashtari)

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