Anna May Wong
Daughter of the Orient
by Barrie Roberts
http://www.classicimages.com/1997/december97/wong.html

Anna May Wong was the first actress of Chinese descent to attain
stardom in Hollywood. There have been other Asian success stories in
films before her, for example, Sessue Hayakawa and his wife, Tsuru
Aoki, but they were Japanese. Despite the latter day appearances of
such leading players as France Nuyen, Nancy Kwan, and Joan Chen,
Anna May Wong remains to this day the most famous of Hollywood's
Asian actresses.

Born in the United States, Anna, nevertheless thought of herself as
a true Chinese, and was extremely proud of her heritage. She
followed the teachings of the great philosopher Lao Tzu and studied
the history and accomplishments of the land of her ancestors. She
was indeed a daughter of the Orient.

She was born in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles on January 3,
1905, the second daughter of Wong Om Tsing, known as Sam Wong and
his wife, Lee Gon Toy. There were to be five more children, four
boys and a girl, Mary. Mary served as Anna's understudy, but,
unfortunately, died in early adulthood. Lee Gon Toy was Sam Wong's
second wife. The first, a Chinese national, had returned to China
with their son. Anna was named Wong Liu Tsong, with surname first as
per Chinese custom. The name means Frosted Yellow Willow.

Both of Anna's parents were native Californians. Sam Wong owned and
operated a laundry on Flower Street, and the family lived in a two-
room apartment behind the store. English was spoken in the home,
although the children were required to take lessons in Cantonese.
Despite being an American, Sam adhered to strict Chinese customs.

Anna, as she was known, attended a mission school in Chinatown, then
went on to Los Angeles High School. She was an excellent student,
although as she entered her teens she started to play hooky in order
to attend the movies which were her passion. In 1919, at the age of
14, she met James Wang, a former Baptist minister turned character
actor and agent, while he was performing in a film being shot on the
streets of Chinatown. It should be mentioned that films were
routinely photographed at various outdoor locations around Los
Angeles at the time. This practice continued into the early 1920s,
when it became impossible to control the crowds that would assemble
to watch the proceedings. Movie companies were then forced to
retreat to their backlots using stage scenery as their background
for action.

James Wang was intrigued by the brightly inquisitive girl and got
her a day job as an extra in Alla Nazimova's The Red Lantern. She
was among the lantern bearers. When Sam Wong learned that Anna had
skipped school to do film work, he was livid. He wished his daughter
to follow the traditional path for a Chinese girl of the time, marry
have children, and lead a domestic life. At the age of 15 the girl
suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stress experienced at home.
Luckily, she recovered rather quickly and returned to school, but
she still haunted the film studios. Initially her father would lock
her in a room at the laundry to prevent her going out. However, the
film money was good, and Sam, no fool, felt it could be used at
home. He insisted she be accompanied to the studio by a chaperone.

By the time Anna graduated from high school in 1921, she had
received her first screen credit in Bits of Life, in which she
played Lon Chaney, Sr.'s wife. Sam Wong, however, refused to see any
of the films his daughter appeared in, and their relationship was
tenuous, and eventually they were totally estranged.
With some success in movies, Anna moved out of her parents home at
the age of 17. In 1922 she was cast in the lead role of Lotus Flower
in one of the first Technicolor films, The Toll of the Sea. She
acted well and looked stunning in color in a story which was a
variation on the "Madame Butterfly" theme.

In between film assignments Anna worked for a Los Angeles furrier,
modeling furs. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., then cast her in the part of
leading lady Julanne Johnston's Mongol slave in his spectacular
production of The Thief of Bagdad. Critics and audiences alike sat
up and noticed the slim, graceful Anna.

Following this, she had good parts in The Fortieth Door produced as
both a serial and feature film, and Peter Pan, in which she played
Tiger Lily. Both films were seen in 1924. Unfortunately, these
successes did not lead to stardom or even better parts for Anna. She
seesawed between second leads and small parts in a variety of films.
Admittedly, in the United States of the 1920s, Anna could not become
a major star, since love scenes with occidental actors were not
permitted on screen. She was forced more and more into exotic
supporting parts, while often the lead would be played by a
Caucasian actress such as Renee Adoree or Myrna Loy in oriental
makeup.

By 1928 Anna had become disgusted with the Hollywood system. She
accepted an offer from producer-director Richard Eichberg to make a
film in Germany. She sailed for Europe and appeared in Song. Reviews
were good, and Anna in the role of a Malayan dancer was hailed in
Germany as "beautiful and charming." She then went to England where
she appeared most effectively as the scheming Shoshi in E.A.
Dupont's excellent Piccadilly, seen in 1929.

Anna, who was always a quick study, had learned German and French by
the time she appeared in her next film Flame of Love, her first
talkie, released in 1930. Anna played Hai-Tang, a dancer performing
with the Russian ballet. She spoke the dialog in the French, German,
and English versions of the film. She spoke German so well that it
was thought her voice had been dubbed. The studio demanded, and
obtained, an apology from German critics who voiced this opinion. In
the meantime, Anna proved her fluency in the language by conversing
in German at every opportunity.

Before she made Flame of Love, she appeared on stage in London in
Basil Dean's production of The Circle of Chalk. The play opened at
the New Theater on March 14, 1929, with Laurence Olivier cast
opposite her in the adaptation of a classic Chinese play. However,
reviewers were brutal in their assessment of her vocal prowess. For
example, an American critic named Trask, who saw her in the play,
wrote, "Her voice is guttural and uncultivated in comparison to the
lightness and delicacy of her bodily makeup. Instead of a high bell-
like quality with a slight Oriental accent, she has the tone quality
of a middle western high school girl. Anna in the talkers will not
be the same as the Anna of the silent screen."

Although devastated by such comments and similar remarks, the
resilient Anna determined to study voice. She took intensive lessons
to rid herself of her American accent and flatness in tone.

During this period Anna grew into a sophisticated woman of culture
and style. She was living at the swank Claridge's Hotel in London.
She entertained and was entertained by the most notable
personalities of the day. London society accepted her totally. In
the summer of 1930 Anna traveled to Vienna to appear on stage in
Springtime. Proving her adeptness in German she was praised by one
Viennese critic for "carrying off the difficult German speaking part
very successfully." Her voice had lost some of the monotonous tone
that had been so criticized during her London appearance in The
Circle of Chalk.

She returned to America later that summer. While aboard the
liner "Acquatania" en route to New York, Anna received a cable from
producer Lee Ephraim offering her the role of Minn Lee, a gangsters'
moll in On the Spot, to be produced on Broadway from a novel by
Edgar Wallace. She accepted the offer, and the show opened on
October 29, 1930. Co-starring were Crane Wilbur and Glenda Farrell.
The play ran for seven months. During the run of On the Spot, Anna's
mother was killed in an automobile accident. This tragedy further
severed ties with her father.

Anna was offered a contract by Paramount. She signed with the studio
and left for Hollywood in May 1931. She was immediately cast for the
lead in Daughter of the Dragon. The film was an adaptation of Sax
Romer's "The Daughter of Fu Manchu." When Fu Manchu, played by
Warner Oland, is dying, Anna as his daughter Ling Moy, promises to
carry on his vengeful vendetta against the English Petrie family. Fu
Manchu had held the Petries responsible for the death of his wife
and son during the Boxer Rebellion of 1902. Anna made Ling Moy a
sinuously glamorous figure. The film was popular with the public.
This part was followed by Shanghai Express starring Marlene Dietrich
and Clive Brook. Anna gave an excellent performance as a woman of
dubious morals, companion to the equally dubious Shanghai Lily,
played by Dietrich.

Anna then embarked on a coast to coast vaudeville tour. She ended up
in a large musical comedy production seen at the Capital Theater in
New York in 1933. Her company included Jack Benny, Una Merkel, Jean
Hersholt, and Abe Lyman and his orchestra.

Anna was next lent to World Wide Productions to play in A Study in
Scarlet. In this Sherlock Holmes' adventure, she played Mrs. Pyke,
mysterious wife of a murdered man. Reginald Owen in his only
appearance as Holmes, solves the crime with the aid of Dr. Watson,
played by Warburton Gamble. In the proceedings, villager Billy Bevan
describes Anna as "that heathen Chinese."

During this time it was revealed that Anna was tall, at 5 feet 7
inches. She had black eyes and invariably wore her hair in bangs.
She loved to study. She spoke with an English accent as well as
being fluent in German and French with more than a passing knowledge
of other tongues including Italian and Yiddish. For exercise she
rode horses, played golf, and tennis. She liked to cook and regaled
her guests with succulent Chinese dishes at frequent dinner parties.
She preferred casual clothes, wearing slacks and sweaters at home,
but cultivated an oriental motif in her very smart formal wardrobe.
Her conversation and outlook was smartly western. She had studied
piano and painting but had given up the former because it ruined her
long fingernails. Her musical tastes tended toward the classic.
However, she loved to dance to contemporary music. Anna was quoted
as saying, "I think I got my first chance because they thought I was
peculiar. But, now I like to believe that the public are fond of me
because they think I'm nice." Although Anna was very social, she
carefully cultivated a somewhat aloof air of subtle mystery, a
demeanor in keeping with the exotic personality she projected on
screen.

With no other Hollywood film roles forthcoming, Anna once again
sailed for Europe where she was to remain in England to make two
films. In Java Head she was John Loder's high-born Chinese wife,
brought from the Orient to a nineteenth century English village,
where the obvious tragedy occurs. Elizabeth Allan was Loder's
English sweetheart, who steps in at the final fade out with Loder,
after Anna's suicide. The other film was lighter fare, the screen
adaptation of the musical Chu Chin Chow which had had a very long
run on the London stage, some 15 years earlier. Anna played the
lead, Zaret, a slave girl. The film had a successful engagement at
the Roxy Theater in New York when it was released in the United
States in September 1934.

During this time Anna studied singing with Welsh tenor Parry Jones.
Summoned back to Hollywood by Paramount, she was cast as George
Raft's mistress in Limehouse Blues. The film was uneven, and the
casting of Jean Parker as Anna's rival, an English girl, a mistake.
However, Anna received excellent personal notices.

After the completion of Limehouse Blues, Anna once again left for
Europe. She toured with her own one-woman show, traveling through
Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. She
vacationed after the tour in Germany and ended up in England. In
London, she had a widely praised night club engagement at the
Embassy Club where she sang and danced.

Anna returned to Hollywood in December 1935 and immediately
announced that she and her sister, Lulu, were to make a long-planned
trip to China. They sailed in January 1936. Rather surprisingly,
they stopped off in Tokyo and toured Japan before reaching the
Chinese mainland. Japan had invaded Manchuria in 1931, and
unofficial war was raging with the Japanese marching on Northern
Chinese cities. Anna later reported that gunfire could often be
heard in the distance when she was in Peking. Despite these attacks
on Chinese land, official war was not declared until July 7, 1937.

Although Anna was fascinated by the land of her forebears, even
meeting with her father's first wife and son, she realized she was
far too westernized to remain long. Being an emancipated woman in
Chinese society was frowned upon, and she met with disapproval. She
bought a great many Chinese costumes which she was subsequently to
use on stage and screen. During World War II, she was to auction
them off to aid Chinese War Relief. She wrote of her experiences in
China in a series of articles published by the New York Herald
Tribune in 1937.

She returned to the United States the long way, stopping off in
England. In London she did broadcasting work and toured in
vaudeville performing throughout Britain and Ireland.

Anna returned to Hollywood in late 1937 and signed a new contract
with Paramount. Her first film under this pact was Daughter of
Shanghai, an exciting adventure melodrama, in which Anna as Lan Ying
Lin becomes involved in the illegal alien traffic. Variety said, "As
the heroine she is a handsome addition to the production."

During this time she received a threatening letter demanding the sum
of $20,000. The letter went on to say the writer would disfigure her
if she did not pay. The missive was traced to a fanatic who had also
written David O. Selznick demanding money. He was ultimately
declared insane and committed to an institution.

Her next film was Dangerous to Know, the film version of her play On
the Spot. Anna repeated her stage role of the gangsters' moll. She
was then loaned to Warners to star in When Were You Born?, in which
she played an astrologer. The story was poorly constructed, although
the premise was good. The film, released in 1938, revealed a rather
wooden Anna solving a murder mystery by means of astrology. The
monotonous tone in her voice, never far away, had also returned.

Back at Paramount she starred in King of Chinatown and Island of
Lost Men, both good programmers. In the latter film she sang, in her
part as a nightclub entertainer, "Music on the Shore." During this
time she also coached Dorothy Lamour, who was appearing as a
Eurasian girl in Disputed Passage. Despite Anna's coaching, Lamour
was not plausible in the film, in a part which was beyond her
dramatic capabilities.

Anna's biggest disappointment professionally occurred during this
period. It was losing a part in MGM's great film The Good Earth. She
tested extensively for the roles of Paul Muni's wife, O Lan, and
that of his concubine. The parts were eventually played by Luise
Rainer and Tillie Losch respectively. Rainer won the Academy Award
for 1937 for her terrific performance as O Lan.

Anna, her contract with Paramount at an end, left Hollywood once
more. She journeyed to Australia and toured with her stage act.
Returning to America, she toured extensively during 1940 in a play,
Princess Turandot. Vincent Price was her co-star. She returned to
Hollywood in 1941. As a freelance, she was cast in a supporting part
in Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. Anna looked wonderful as the
Chinese diplomat working in the United States on behalf of her war-
torn country.

It seemed obvious that her career was in trouble when she turned up
at lowly PRC studios in two films, Bombs Over Burma and The Lady
from Chungking. Variety said of the former, "She rises way above the
thin plot." Both films dealt with Chinese resistance to the Japanese
invader. For the remainder of World War II, Anna devoted her time to
the USO and to China War Relief.

In 1943 it was proposed she star in a biography of Madame Chiang Kai-
Shek, but no film materialized.

She bought a house at 326 San Vincente Boulevard in Santa Monica in
1946. She converted the Spanish style home into four apartments and
named it Moongate. She lived in one apartment, her brother Richard
in another, and two were rented out.

Anna lived quietly. She was a Christian Scientist practitioner, and
she continued to study philosophy. She believed in reincarnation and
wished her epitaph to read, "I died a thousand times."

Anna returned to films briefly in 1949 in Impact, a murder mystery
produced by a personal friend, Arthur Lubin. The stars were Brian
Donlevy and Ella Raines. Her part, however, that of a maid, had
little substance.

Anna made her television debut in 1951 playing an amateur detective
in The Gallery of Madame Liu Tsong, a series which only lasted 11
episodes. She was subsequently to appear in such shows as Climax,
Barbara Stanwyck Theater, Wyatt Earp, Mike Hammer, and Danger Man.
She was also in a production of Somerset Maugham's The Letter. In
1956 she sold Moongate apartments and purchased a small home at 308
21st Place in Santa Monica, which she shared with her brother,
Richard. Richard was by then a successful photographer.

In 1960 producer Ross Hunter gave her the part of the housekeeper in
Lana Turner's Portrait in Black. Hunter also cast her in Flower Drum
Song. However, Anna became ill in December of 1960 and was replaced
by Juanita Hall. For the next six weeks, Anna was under constant
doctor's care, receiving liver injections each week from her
physician. On February 3, 1961, her brother Richard summoned the
doctor to their home. The doctor arrived at 3 PM and pronounced Anna
dead from a massive heart attack. It was revealed that since 1950
she had been suffering from Laennac's cirrhosis. The disease of the
liver is caused by an over indulgence in alcohol.

Anna's body was cremated at the Chapel of the Pacific at Woodlawn
Cemetery on February 9, 1961. The ashes were returned to the family
for interment at Rosedale Cemetery. Anna, who never married, left a
will dated May 8, 1947. In it she left her jewelry and furs and a
small legacy to her sister Lulu. The remainder of the estate, which
amounted to some $60,000, went to her brother Richard.

She specifically disinherited her father, who predeceased her and
her three brothers, James, Frank, and Roger, noting she had provided
enough for them during her lifetime to make them self sufficient.

Anna May Wong became proficient in almost everything she set her
mind upon. Her varied career testifies to that. The enormous odds
she was forced to overcome in the America of the first half of this
century proves her tenacity. A real success story, and a triumph for
a true daughter of the Orient.


The Films of Anna May Wong

The Red Lantern. Metro 1919. Directed by Albert Capellani. With Alla
Nazimova, Margaret McWade, Virginia Ross, Frank Currier, Winter
Hall, Amy Veness, Darrell Foss, Noah Beery, Sr., Harry Mann, Yukio
Aoyamo, Edward J. Connelly, AMW. AMW has a "bit."

Dinty. Assoc. First National 1920. Directed by Marshall Neilan and
John McDermott. With Wesley Barry, Colleen Moore, Tom Gallery, J.
Barney Sherry, Marjorie Daw, Noah Beery, Sr., Walter Chung, Pat
O'Malley, Kate Price, Tom Wilson, Aaron Mitchell, Newton Hall, Yung
Hipp, Hal Wilson, AMW. AMW as "Chinatown resident."

The First Born. Robertson Cole 1921. Directed by Colin Campbell.
With Sessue Hayakawa, Helen Jerome Eddy, Sonny Boy Warde, Goro Kino,
Marie Pavis, Clarence Wilson, Frank M. Seki, AMW.

Shame. Fox 1921. Directed by Emmett J. Flynn. With John Gilbert,
Mickey Moore, George Siegmann, William V. Mong, George Nicholas,
AMW, Rosemary Theby, Doris Pawn, Red Kirby. AMW as the Lotus Blossom.

Bits of Life. Assoc. First National 1921. Directed by Marshall
Neilan. With Wesley Barry, Rockliffe Fellowes, Lon Chaney, Sr., Noah
Beery, Sr., AMW, John Bowers, Teddy Sampson, Dorothy Mackaill,
Edythe Chapman, Frederick Burton, James Bradbury, Jr., Tammany
Young, Harriet Hammond, James Neill, Scott Welsh. AMW as Toy Sing,
wife to Chaney character.

The Toll of the Sea. Metro 1922. Directed by Chester M. Franklin.
With AMW, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley, Baby Marion, Etta Lee,
Ming Young. AMW as Lotus Flower, a suicide.

Drifting. Universal 1923. Directed by Tod Browning. With Priscilla
Dean, Matt Moore, Wallace Beery, J. Farrell MacDonald, Rose Dione,
Edna Tichenor, AMW, William V. Mong, Bruce Guerin, Marie De Albert,
William Moran, Frank Lanning. AMW as Rose Li, daughter of sinister
doctor played by Mong.

Thundering Dawn. Universal 1923. Directed by Harry Garson. With
Winter Hall, J. Warren Kerrigan, Anna Q. Nilsson, Tom Santschi,
Charles Clary, Georgia Woodthorpe, Richard Kean, Edward Burns,
Winifred Bryson, AMW. AMW as "Honky Tonk Girl."

Lillies of the Field. Assoc. First National 1924. Directed by John
Francis Dillon. With Corinne Griffith, Conway Tearle, Alma Bennett,
Myrtle Stedman, Crauford Kent, Sylvia Breamer, Charlie Murray,
Phyllis Haver, Cissy Fitzgerald, Edith Ransom, Charles Gerrard,
Dorothy Brock, Mattie Peters, AMW.

The Thief of Bagdad. United Artists 1924. Directed by Raoul Walsh.
With Douglas Fairbanks, Julane Johnston, Snitz Edwards, Charles
Belcher, AMW, Winter Blossom, Etta Lee, Brandon Hurst, Tote Du Crow,
Sojin, Noble Johnson, Sadakichi Hartmann, K. Nambu, Mathilde Comont,
Charles Stevens, Sam Baker, Jess Weldon, Scott Mattraw, Charles
Sylvester. AMW as the Mongol slave.

The Fortieth Door. Pathé serial 1924. Directed by George B. Seitz.
With Allene Ray, Bruce Gordon, David Dunbar, AMW, Frances Mann,
Frank Lackteen, Lillian Gale, Bernard Seigel, Scott McGee, Chief
Whitehorse, Omar Whitehead, Eli Stanton. AMW as Zira.

The Alaskan. Paramount 1924. Directed by Herbert Brenon. With Thomas
Meighan, Estelle Taylor, John Sainpolis, Frank Campeau, AMW,
Alphonse Ethier, Maurice Cannon, Charles Ogle. AMW as Keok, an
Eskimo.

Peter Pan. Paramount 1924. Directed by Herbert Brenon. With Betty
Bronson, Cyril Chadwick, Ernest Torrence, Virginia Brown Faire, AMW,
Esther Ralston, George Ali, Mary Brian, Philippe De Lacey, Jack
Murphy. AMW as Tiger Lily.

Forty Winks. Paramount 1925. Directed by Frank Urson. With Viola
Dana, Raymond Griffith, Theodore Roberts, Cyril Chadwick, AMW,
William Boyd. AMW as Annabelle Wu, an adventuress.

Fifth Avenue. PRC 1926. Directed by Robert G. Vignola. With
Marguerite De La Motte, Allan Forrest, Louise Dresser, William V.
Mong, Crauford Kent, Lucille Lee Stewart, AMW, Lillian Langdon,
Josephine Norman, Sally Long, Flora Finch. AMW as Nan Lo, a
prostitute.

The Silk Bouquet/The Dragon Horse. Hi Mark Productions. 1926 with
James Leong, AMW.

A Trip to Chinatown. Fox 1926. Directed by Robert P. Kerr. With
Margaret Livingston, Earle Foxe, J. Farrell MacDonald, AMW, Harry
Woods, Marie Astaire, Gladys McConnell, Charles Farrell, Hazel
Howell, Wilson Benge, George Kuwa. AMW as Ohtai.

The Desert's Toll. MGM 1926. Directed by Clifford Smith. With
Kathleen Key, Chief Big Tree, AMW, Francis McDonald, Tom Santschi,
Lew Meehan, Guinn Williams. AMW as Oneta.

The Chinese Parrot. Universal. 1927. Directed by Paul Leni. With
Marian Nixon, Florence Turner, Hobart Bosworth, Edward Burns, Albert
Conti, Sojin, Fred Esmelton, Edgar Kennedy, George Kuwa, Slim
Summerville, Dan Mason, AMW, Etta Lee, Jack Trent. AMW as "Nautch
dancer."

Driven from Home. Chadwick 1927. Directed by James Young. With Ray
Hallor, Virginia Lee Corbin, Pauline Garon, AMW, Sojin, Melbourne
MacDowell, Margaret Seddon, Sheldon Lewis, Virginia Pearson, Eric
Mayne, Alfred Fisher.

Mr. Wu. MGM 1927. Directed by William Nigh. With Lon Chaney, Sr.,
Louise Dresser, Renee Adoree, Holmes Herbert, Ralph Forbes, Gertrude
Olmstead, Mrs. Wong Wing, AMW, Sonny Loy, Claude King. AMW as Loo
Song.

Old San Francisco. Warner Bros. 1927. Directed by Alan Crosland.
With Dolores Costello, Warner Oland, Charles Emmett Mack, Josef
Swickard, John Miljan, Anders Randolf, Sojin, Angelo Rossitto, AMW.
AMW as "girl."

Why Girls Love Sailors. Pathé short 1927. Directed by Fred L. Guiol.
With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Bobby Dunn, AMW, Sojin, Eric Mayne.
AMW as Delamar.

The Devil Dancer. United Artists 1927. Directed by Fred Niblo. With
Gilda Gray, Clive Brook, AMW, Serge Temoff, Michael Vavitch, Sojin,
Uta Mita, Ann Schaeffer, Albert Conti, Clarissa Selwynne, James
Leong, Martha Mattox, William H. Tooker, Claire Du Brey, Nora Cecil,
Barbara Tennant, Kalla Pasha. AMW as Sada.

Streets of Shanghai. Tiffany 1927. Directed by Louis Gasnier. With
Pauline Starke, Kenneth Harlan, Eddie Gribbon, Margaret Livingston,
Jason Robards, Sr., Mathilde Comont, AMW, Sojin, Tetsu Komai,
Toshyie Ichioka, Media Ichioka. AMW as Su Quan.

Across to Singapore. MGM 1928. Directed by William Nigh. With Ramon
Novarro, Joan Crawford, Ernest Torrence, Frank Currier, Dan Wolheim,
Duke Martine, Edward Connelly, James Mason, AMW.

The Crimson City. Warner Bros. 1928. Directed by Archie Mayo. With
Myrna Loy, John Miljan, Leila Hyams, Matthew Betz, AMW, Anders
Randolf, Richard Tucker, Sojin. AMW as Su.

Chinatown Charlie. First National 1928. Directed by Charles Hines.
With Johnny Hines, Louise Lorraine, Harry Gribbon, Fred Kohler, Sr.,
Scooter Lowry, Sojin, AMW, George Kuwa, John Bradette. AMW as
Mandarin's (played by Sojin) sweetheart.

Song. German 1928. Directed by Richard Eichberg. With AMW, Heinrich
George, Hans Adalbert, Paul Horbiger. AMW as a Malayan who marries a
brutal painter played by George.

The City Butterfly. German 1929. Directed by Richard Eichberg. With
AMW, Alexander Granach, Tilla Garden. AMW as a "sideshow dancer."

Piccadilly. British International 1929. Directed by E. A. Dupont.
With Gilda Gray, AMW, Jameson Thomas, Charles Laughton, Cyril
Ritchard, King Ho-Chang, Hannah Jones, Ellen Pollock, Harry Terry,
Gordon Begg, Charles Paton, Debroy Somers and his Band. AMW as
Shosho, mistress to Thomas character.

Elstree Calling. British International 1930. Directed by Adrian
Brunel, Alfred Hitchcock, Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, and Paul
Murray. With Will Fyffe, Lily Morris, Tommy Handley, AMW, Teddy
Brown, Bobbie Comber, Hannah Jones, Cicely Courtneidge, Jack
Hulbert, Helen Burnell, Donald Calthrop, James Thomas, Ivor
MacLaren, John Longden, Berkoff Dancers, Charlot Girls, Three
Eddies, the Adelphi girls, Kasbek Singers. A revue with AMW as
herself.

The Flame of Love. British International 1930. Directed by Richard
Eichberg. With AMW, John Longden, George Schnell, Mona Goya, Percy
Standing, Fred Schwartz, Lay-On. AMW as Hai-tang, a dancer.

Hay Tang. German 1930. Directed by Richard Eichberg, With AMW,
Francis Lederer, Hermann Blass. AMW as Hay Tang, a dancer. The
German version of The Flame of Love.

L'Amour Maitre Des Choses. French 1930. Directed by Richard
Eichberg. With AMW, Robert Ancelin, Marcel Vibert. AMW as Hai-tang.
The French version of The Flame of Love.

Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount 1931. Directed by Lloyd Corrigan.
With AMW, Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa, Bramwell Fletcher, Frances
Dade, Holmes Herbert, Lawrence Grant, Harold Minjir, Nicholas
Soussanin, E. Alyn Warren, Harry Lee, Olaf Hytten, Nella Walker, Oie
Chan, Tetsu Komai, George Kuwa. AMW as Ling Moy, daughter of Fu
Manchu, played by Oland.

Shanghai Express. Paramount 1932. Directed by Josef Von Sternberg.
With Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, AMW, Warner Oland, Eugene
Pallette, Lawrence Grant, Louis Closser Hale, Gustav Von
Seyffertitz, Emile Chautard, Madame Sojin, Willie Fung, James Leong,
Forrester Harvey, Leonard Carey, Claude King, Neshida Minoru, Miki
Morita AMW as Hui Fei, a lady of dubious morals.

A Study in Scarlet. World Wide 1933. Directed by Edwin L. Marin.
With Reginald Owen, AMW, June Clyde, Alan Dinehart, John Warburton,
Warburton Gamble, Alan Mowbray, Doris Lloyd, Billy Bevan, Leila
Bennnett, J. M. Kerrigan, Wyndham Standing, Halliwell Hobbes, Tempe
Pigott, Cecil Reynolds, Tetsu Komai. AMW as Mrs. Pyke, a crook.

Tiger Bay. Associated British 1933. Directed by J. Elder Sills. With
AMW, Henry Victor, Rene Ray, Lawrence Grossmith, Victor Garland, Ben
Soutten, Margaret Yarde, Benn Williams, Wally Patch, Ernest Jay,
Brian Buchel. AMW as Lui Chang, a cafe proprietress.

Chu Chin Chow. Gaumont 1934. Directed by Walter Forde. With George
Robey, Fritz Kortner, AMW, John Garrick, Pearl Argyle, Malcolm
MacEachern, Dennis Hoey, Francis L. Sullivan, Sydney Fairbrother,
Lawrence Hanray, Frank Cochrane, Thelma Tuson, Myoshi Takase. AMW as
Zahret, a slave girl.

Java Head. Associated British 1934. Directed by J. Walter Ruben.
With AMW, Elizabeth Allan, John Loder, Edmund Gwenn, Ralph
Richardson, Herbert Lomas, George Curzon, Roy Emerton, John
Marriner, Grey Blake, Amy Brandon-Thomas, Ben Williams. AMW as Taou
Yen, doomed wife of Loder character.

Limehouse Blues. Paramount 1934. Directed by Alexander Hall. With
George Raft, Jean Parker, AMW, Kent Taylor, Montagu Love, Billy
Bevan, Robert Loraine, John Rogers, E. Alyn Warren, Wyndham
Standing, Louis Vincenot, Keith Hitchcock, Forrester Harvey, Desmond
Roberts, Colin Kenny, Robert Adair, Eric Blore, Tempe Pigott, Eily
Malyon, Elsie Prescott, Colin Tapley, Rita Carlisle, Joe May, Otto
Yamaoka, Dora Mayfield, Angelo Bianchi, Ann Sheridan, Joe Glick. AMW
as Tu Tuan, the Raft character's mistress.

Daughter of Shanghai. Paramount 1937. Directed by Robert Florey.
With AMW, Charles Bickford, Buster Crabbe, Cecil Cunningham, J.
Carrol Naish, Anthony Quinn, Philip Ahn, Evelyn Brent, John
Patterson, Guy Bates Post, Frank Sully, Fred Kohler, Sr., Virginia
Dabney, Ching Way Lee, Maurice Liu, Mrs. Wong Wing, Gwen Kenyon,
Paul Fix, Ernest Whitman, Layne Tom, Jr., Gino Corrado, Bruce Wong,
Paulita Arvizu, Charles Wilson, Mae Busch, Michael Wu, Bill Powell,
Pierre Watkin, Carmen La Roux, Tina Menard, Jimmie Dundee, Carmen
Bailey, Alex Woloshin, Agostino Borgato, Billy Jones, Harry Strang,
Alma Ross, Joyce Mathews, Helaine Moler, Lee Shumway, Blanca
Vischer, Norah Gale, Paula de Cardo, Sheila Darcy, Chick Collins,
Marie Burton, Harriette Haddon. AMW as Lan Ying Lin, who seeks her
father's murderer.

Hollywood Party. MGM short subject 1937. With Clark Gable, Elissa
Landi, Joan Bennett, AMW, Joe E. Brown, Freddie Bartholomew, Leon
Errol, Joe Morrison, Betty Rhodes, Charley Chase, Leon Janney. AMW
and other celebrities attend a technicolored party.

Dangerous to Know. Paramount 1938. Directed by Robert Florey. With
AMW, Akim Tamiroff, Gail Patrick, Lloyd Nolan, Harvey Stephens
Anthony Quinn, Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Barlowe Borland, Hugh
Sothern, Hedda Hopper, Edward Pawley, Garry Owen, Robert Brister,
Stanley Blystone, Pierre Watkin, Edward Marr, Harry Worth, Donald
Brian, Ellen Drew, Rita La Roy, Harvey Clark, Jack Knoche, Margaret
Randall, Rudolph Myset, Gino Corrado, Andre Marsaudon, Perry Ivins,
Grace Benham, Wade Boteler, Ruth Rogers, John Hart, David Newell,
Frank Melton, Ivan Miller, Larry Steers, Lynn Bailey, Sheila Darcy,
Cyril Ring, Blanca Vischer, Suzanne Ridgeway, Carol Parker, Joyce
Mathews, Estelle Etterre, Harry Myers. AMW as Madame Lan Ying,
mistress to Tamiroff character.

When Were You Born? Warner Bros. 1938. Directed by William McGann,
with AMW, Margaret Lindsay, Lola Lane, Anthony Averill, Charles
Wilson, Jeffrey Lynn, Eric Stanley, James Stephenson, Leonard Mudie,
Olin Howland, Maurice Cass, Jack Moore, Frank Jaquet, John Ridgely,
Carole Landis, Peggy Moran, Edwin Stanley, Sidney Bracey, Tetzu
Komai, Lottie Williams. AMW as Mary Lee Ling, an astrologist.

King of Chinatown. Paramount 1939. Directed by Nick Grinde With AMW,
Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, Sidney Toler, Anthony Quinn, Philip
Ahn, Roscoe Karns, Richard Denning, Bernadene Hayes, Ray Mayer,
Archie Twitchell, Chester Gan, George Anderson, George Magrill,
Edward Marr, Charles B. Wood, Charles Trowbridge, Robert Homans,
Lily King, Pierre Watkin, Wong Chung, Alexander Pollard, Guy Usher,
Pat West, Sam Ash, Larry McGrath, Charles Lee, Jimmy Vaughn, Ivan
Miller, Ben Taggart, Grace Lem, David Dong, Gloria Williams, Luana
Walters, Marie Burton, Judith King, Dolores Casey, Ethel Clayton,
Dorothy White, Helaine Moler, Norah Gale, Gwen Kenyon, Joyce
Mathews, Harriette Haddon, Florence Wix, Sheila Darcy, Dorothy
Dayton, Paula de Cardo. AMW as Mary Ling, a doctor.

Island of Lost Men. Paramount 1939. Directed by Kurt Newmann. With
AMW, Anthony Quinn, J. Carrol Naish, Eric Blore, Broderick Crawford,
Ernest Truex, Rudolph Forster, William Haade, Richard Loo, Ralph
Suncuya, Torben Meyer, Lai Chand Mehra, Rupert Andez, Vivian
Oakland, George Kirby, Rafael Storm, George Melford, Ethel May
Halls, Ruth Rickaby, Jack Perry, Philip Ahn, Philson Ahn, C. L.
Sherwood, Mitchell Ingraham, Bruce Mitchell. AMW as Kim Ling,
daughter of a general.

Chinese Garden Festival. Republic short subject, 1940. One of
the "Meet The Stars" series with Rosalind Russell, William Bakewell,
Dorothy Lamour, Rita Hayworth, AMW, Cesar Romero, Walter Pidgeon,
Rose Hobart, Patricia Morison, Gertrude Niesen, Kay Aldridge, Mary
Beth Hughes, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Withers,
Beulah Bondi, Vera Vague, Mary Martin, King Kennedy, Cliff Nazarro,
Mary Howard, Gloria and Barbara Brewster. Jane Hamilton, Susan
Peters, Ona Munson, Georgia Carroll, Mary Healy. AMW and other
celebrities attend a party.

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. Columbia 1941. Directed by James
Hogan. With Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, AMW, Charley Grapewin,
James Burke, Eduardo Cianelli, Frank Albertson, Ann Doran, Noel
Madison, Charles Lane, Russell Hicks, Tom Dugan, Manton Moreland,
Theodor Von Eltz, Richard Loo, Chester Gan, Edward Earle, George
McKay, Jimmy Aubrey. AMW as Lois King, a diplomat.

Bombs Over Burma. PRC 1942. Directed by Josseph H. Lewis With AMW,
Noel Madison, Leslie Denison, Nedrick Young, Dan Seymour, Frank
Lackteen, Judith Gibson, Dennis Moore, Connie Leon, Richard Loo,
Hayward Soo Hoo, Paul Fung. AMW as Lin Ying, a schoolteacher.

The Lady From Chungking. PRC 1942. Directed by William Nigh, With
AMW, Harold Huber, Mae Clarke, Rick Vallin, Paul Bryar, Ted Hecht,
Ludwig Donath, Archie Got, James Leong, Walter Soo Hoo AMW as Kwan
Mei, a guerilla leader.

Impact. United Artists 1949. Directed by Arthur Lubin. With Brian
Donlevy, Ella Raines, Charles Coburn, Helen Walker, AMW, Mae Marsh,
Tony Barrett, William Wright, Robert Warwick, Philip Ahn, Clarence
Kolb, Erskine Sanford, Linda Johnson. AMW as Su Lin, a maid.

Portrait In Black. Universal 1960. Directed by Michael Gordon With
Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn, Sandra Dee, John Saxon, Richard
Basehart, Lloyd Noland, Ray Walston, Virginia Grey, AMW, Dennis
Kohler, Paul Birch, John Wengraf, Richard Norris, James Nolan,
Robert Lieb, John McNamara, Charles Thompson, George Womack, Henry
Quan, Elizabeth Chan, Harold Goodwin, Jack Bryan. AMW as Tani, a
housekeeper.