Anna May Wong : From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend

by Graham Russell Gao Hodges

• ISBN13: 9781403967909
• ISBN10: 1403967903
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Anna May Wong was perhaps the best known Chinese American actresses during Hollywood's golden age, a free spirit and embodiment of the flapper era much like Louise Brooks. She starred in over fifty movies between 1919 and 1960, sharing the screen with such luminaries as Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Marlene Dietrich. Born in Los Angeles in 1905, Wong was the second daughter of six children born to a laundryman and his wife. Obsessed with film at a young age, she managed to secure a small part in a 1919 drama about the Boxer Rebellion. Her most famous film roles were in The Thief of Baghdad, Old San Francisco, and Shanghai Express opposite Dietrich. Despite these successes, instances of overt racism plagued Wong's career. When it came time to make a film version of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, she was passed over for the Austrian-born actress, Luise Rainer. In a narrative that recalls both the gritty life in Los Angeles's working-class Chinese neighborhoods and the glamour of Hollywood at its peak, Graham Hodges recounts the life of this elegant, beautiful, and underappreciated screen legend.

Author Biography

Graham Russell Hodges is Professor of History at Colgate University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xv
List of Illustrations	xxv
Childhood	1	(30)
Seeking Stardom	31	(42)
Europe	73	(38)
Atlantic Crossings	111	(46)
China	157	(18)
In the Service of the Motherland	175	(36)
Becoming Chinese American	211	(18)
Epilogue	229	(8)
Filmography	237	(7)
Television Appearances	244	(1)
Notes	245	(21)
Selected Bibliography	266	(13)
Index	279