January Star-Anna May Wong

 

ANNA MAY WONG

BIRTH: January 3, 1905

DEATH: February 3, 1961

AGED: 56 years

DIED FROM: Massive Heart Attack after years of drinking and heavy smoking

DISEASE: suffered from St. Vitrus’s Dance- cured using traditional Chinese medicine

REAL NAME: Wong Liu Tsong which means “Willow Frost Yellow”

NICKNAME: CCC- Curious Chinese Child. 

MARRIED: Never

AFFAIRS: Marshall Nielan, Todd Browning, Irving Thalberg, Johnny Weissmuller, Eric Maschwitz etc. Rumour is she had an affair with Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl but that’s just based on a photo and Anna’s chemistry with Marlene in Shanghai Express. I doubt she did from all I read.

CHILDREN: None

FAMOUS FAMILY: James Wong Howe, cousin and famous cinematographer. Mary Wong, her younger sister who appeared in films but, sadly committed suicide by hanging herself  in 1940

TALENT: she could sing, dance.  Knew Antonese, German, French and Italian. In the very early stages of sound film, many studios made 3 versions of the same movie, one in English and other usually, in German and French and or an Italian. Anna May Wong starred in all versions.

KNOWN FOR: Her privacy. Fashion icon. Intelligence, donating large amount to Chinese charities to help fight the Japanese.

If she was alive today, she would be a big name like Zang Ziyi( from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) or Bai Lu, probably bigger, but she entered Hollywood at a time when prejudice ran rampant ( still does as we all know). Yet, she made a name for herself, most often, as a co-star, but, on a few occasions she was a star. She had to fight to get every role and some directors fought for her. She knew, early on, that she wanted to be an actress hanging around film sites so much that they called her CCC- Curious Chinese Child. This profession went against her own culture and her parents’ thinking. Her dad did not condone her choice because it was felt an actress was no better than a whore ( thankfully, he changed his mind and was very proud of her). So this poor gal fought the studios and her own family. I applaud her courage and conviction while still remaining true to her culture. Whenever she could, she would dress in her traditional outfits in honour of her parents and culture in the 1930s, but she loved fashion and was once voted Best Dressed actress in the world. Her glamour and look was heralded in the 1920s often being cited as best dressed and was one of the first to herald the “Flapper” look. 

When MGM was going to make “The Good Earth” about a Chinese husband and wife and all that they must endure, Anna fought hard for the lead role and would have been perfect as O-Lan but there was no way in hell she was ever going to land this role that she deserved because her co-star was caucasian. Discrimination was rampant and there would be no way she, a Chinese person, could be the lover and wife of a white man in film, who is portraying a Chinese person. It was better to have white people made to look Asian than have actual Asians play the roles. Luise Rainer played the lead and won her second Oscar and, I have to say, to me, Rainer did a great job, but I would have loved to have seen Anna in the role. After this bitter disappointment, Anna left the States for over a year to visit her dad who went back to his ancestral home( her mom died in 1930 after being hit by a car) with her younger brothers and sister. The stress proved too much when she arrived to a huge gathering of her fans, the usual genial actress, suffering from depression, was rude and angry. The fans quickly turned to a mob and she had to leave quickly. While staying with her dad, she learned mandarin and her ancestral history which she embraced. 

When she returned to Hollywood, she starred in B movies…starred and was also still a co-star but she now had the conviction to help her fellow countrymen and often donated large amounts to Chinese charities. She sold her costumes and gave a large portion of her money to their cause since they were fighting the Japanese invasion. She continued to star on Broadway and radio. In 1951 she had her own tv show called, “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsang.” She played an art dealer who ends up being a detective solving crimes along the way. Talk about a precursor to “Murder, She Wrote”. Sadly, the studio dumped all their tv shows into the New York Harbour…yup, they did that! Over the years, her smoking and drinking affected her health where she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and cirrhosis of the liver, finally, dying in 1961, from a massive heart attack. 

I’d love to see more films of hers and her TV spots. She died too young which is such a shame, but a special coin was created in her honour as well as a commemorative stamp. Very intelligent and fascinating person.

FILMS

1. Toll of the Sea-1922

2. The Thief of Baghdad-1924

3. Peter Pan-1924

4. Pavement Butterfly-1929

5. The Road of Dishonour-1930

6. Piccadilly-1930

7. Daughter of the Dragon-1931

8. Shanghai Express-1932

9. Java He’d-1934

10. Daughter of Shanghai-1939

11. King of Chinatown-1942

12. Lady From Chunking-1942

13. Portrait In Black-1960