In honor of her birthday, here is a photo of Persis Khambatta and another actress doing a screen test for the part of Ilia on Phase II, Gene's attempt at a follow up TV series to Star Trek. Persis is the one in the gold uniform. Phase II was in production for several months before eventually Paramount decided to use it as the basis for the first Star Trek movie instead.

For this screen test photo, Persis was wearing a skullcap. It was not until the production for Star Trek: The Motion Picture began that she had to have her head shaved for real. As the second montage depicts, she was less than thrilled. To see the actual process, you can watch the video of the haircut session on YouTube. https://youtu.be/WHgdGTQiVbc

At one point Gene stopped by to offer his encouragement in the final stages. You can tell it did not do much good. 

But the end result was definitely worth it. 

Sadly, Persis died at age 49 from a fatal heart attack one day after suffering chest pains and being admitted to a hospital in Bombay.