Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong mini-bio: Anna May Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong on January 3, 1905, in Los Angeles, California. Her parents ran a laundry in the city's Chinatown section. Anna became a photographer's model when she was still attending Hollywood High School. She was fascinated with the movie industry at a young age, having observed several films being shot in and around her neighborhood. When she was almost 14, her actor cousin, James Wong Howe, showed a photograph of her to a director, which resulted in her getting a bit part in Dinty (1920) (unfortunately for film buffs, there are no prints of the movie in existence, because of deterioration). The next year she appeared in two more films, Shame (1921) and Bits of Life (1921) (in which she received billing). Anna's big break came when she landed the role of a Mongol slave girl in The Thief of Bagdad (1924). This film put her in the position of being the first (and for a long time the only) Chinese-American to become a bona fide movie star. It led to bigger parts in other movies with a Chinese or Asian theme, in which she alternated between playing the heroine or the heroine's evil nemesis. Another hit for her was A Trip to Chinatown (1926), in which her trademark bangs and Oriental dress only accentuated her natural beauty, enhancing her status with the moviegoing public. Before long her name was synonymous with exotic, Asian-themed productions, and films such as The Devil Dancer (1927), Across to Singapore (1928) and The Crimson City (1928) kept fans coming to the theaters. Anna's talent and beauty carried her through a successful transition into talkies, and she also traveled to Europe to make films there. Upon her return to the U.S. after three years, she was signed to a contract with Paramount. Her career reached its zenith with her casting in Shanghai Express (1932) with Marlene Dietrich. Another in her string of successes was Dangerous to Know (1938) with Charles Laughton, Lloyd Nolan and Anthony Quinn, in which she played Lin Yang, a "kept" woman who seeks revenge when her gangster lover tries to replace her. By the 1940s, however, Anna's career had begun to stall. Theater patrons were finding escapist fare elsewhere, and her Chinese melodramas were no longer in demand. Also, American society's attitudes towards races other than Caucasian made it almost impossible for Anna to get good parts in pictures other than Asian-themed ones. After Lady from Chungking (1942), Anna didn't appear on-screen again until Impact (1949), and then only in a minor supporting role. She had an early television series, "The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong" (1951), but it didn't last long. Anna appeared sporadically on television throughout the 1950s. Her career problems were exacerbated by a drinking problem, and by the mid-1950s she learned that she was suffering from heart problems and cirrhosis of the liver. She made a final effort to recharge her career with Portrait in Black (1960) and _Savage Innocents, The (1960)_. Although the first was a modest hit, the second film was released to mixed reviews and meager box office receipts. On February 2, 1961, Anna died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, at age 56. She had never married.

Cousin of cinematographer James Wong Howe.

Her Chinese name means "Frosted Yellow Willow" in Chinese.

She was more often cast in "sinister oriental" roles only after actresses like Nita Naldi were forced out of motion pictures owing to the coming of sound.

According to the British Film Institute biography, her birth name was Luong Liu Tsong.

In 1956 Anna received a long-deferred chance to play a role she lost out on in 1940s Hollywood. Playing the Asian blackmailer in W. Somerset Maugham's "The Letter" on TV, the director of the show was none other than William Wyler, who had originally nixed the idea of her playing the role in the Bette Davis classic film version of The Letter (1940). The part instead went to non-Asian Gale Sondergaard.

Never married, Anna is rumored to have been bisexual but that has never been definitely established.

Anna once had an affair with noted silent film director Marshall Neilan. Most of her romances tended towards Caucasian men, as many Chinese men looked down on actresses as prostitutes.

Anna attended Hollywood High School, where she became a photographer's model.

In 1960, actor Anthony Quinn co-starred with Anna in her last film, Portrait in Black (1960). Quinn also starred as an Inuit in Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents (1960). Co-starring with him was actress Marie Yang, who in this film was for some reason billed as Anna May Wong! It may be the only instance ever of an actor appearing with two actresses of the same name in the same year.

Enjoyed golfing, skiing, and horseback riding in her spare time.

Buried in an unmarked grave in Angelus Rosedale Cemetary in Los Angeles.

Was a Christian Scientist practitioner.

Producer Ross Hunter cast her in the film version of Flower Drum Song (1961). However, she became ill in December of 1960 and was replaced by Juanita Hall.

Once coached Dorothy Lamour, who was appearing as a Eurasian girl in the film Disputed Passage (1939).

The second of seven children, her siblings were Richard, Lulu, James, Frank, Roger and Mary. Mary once served as Anna's film understudy but died suddenly in early adulthood. Her father disapproved of Anna's acting career, which caused a severe strain in their relationship. Following Anna's mother's death in a car accident in 1931, they grew even further apart. Anna's will disinherited her father.

In the 1930s she toured in vaudeville and with her own one-woman show, traveling through Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. In London, she had a widely praised nightclub engagement at the Embassy Club, where she sang and danced.

Spoke fluent French and German along with her native English and Chinese.

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