Los Angeles-born Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was the most prominent Chinese-American actress during the silent era, though her career extended to the early 60s. From 1919 to 1960, she played in more than fifty US and European movies (The Thief of Baghdad, 1924; Shanghai Express, 1932) with stars such as Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Marlene Dietrich. More celebrated in Europe and Japan than in the US or China, Wong, despite her many roles, still suffered from racial typecasting. At the time, the Hollywood system cast whites in Chinese roles, while ‘real’ Chinese were relegated to (often demeaning) supporting parts. In addition, mixed race romance was forbidden on the screen. As a result, Wong’s enormous potential as an actress was never truly given reign, though decades after her death she was given a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. In this compelling biography, professor of history Graham Hodges provides copious accounts of the glamour, and the prejudice, that was the fate of many an actor of Chinese descent in the first half of the twentieth century.
Palgrave Macmillan

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
June 2006 issue



(c) that's PRD
PRD Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
June 2006 issue