France Nuyen

France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French-American actress, model, and psychological counsellor. She is known to film audiences for playing romantic leads in South Pacific (1958), Satan Never Sleeps (1962), and A Girl Named Tamiko (also 1962), and for playing Ying-Ying St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also originated the title role in the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong, based on the novel of the same name. She is a Theatre World Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee.

France Nuyen
Nuyen in 2002
Born
France Nguyen Van-Nga

(1939-07-31) 31 July 1939
Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
  • psychological counsellor
Years active1958–2008
Spouses
Thomas Gaspar Morell
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1966)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1967; div. 1970)​
    Children1

    Early life

    Nuyen was born in Marseille. Her mother was French, and her father was widely reported to be Vietnamese, although she has stated that he was "probably of Chinese origin".[1] During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Nazis for being Roma.

    Nuyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls "an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me." Having left school at the age of 11, she began studying art and became an artist's model.[2]

    In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nuyen was discovered on the beach by Life photographer Philippe Halsman. She was featured on the cover of 6 October 1958 issue of Life.

    Career

    France Nuyen became a motion picture actress in 1958. In her first role, she appeared as Liat, daughter of Bloody Mary (played by Juanita Hall) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.[3]

    Nuyen was then cast to star in the film adaptation of The World of Suzie Wong,[4] but was fired during production by producer Ray Stark and her scenes re-shot with her replacement, Nancy Kwan.[5]

    In 1978 Nuyen guest-starred with Peter Falk and Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode "Murder Under Glass". In 1986 she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988.

    Nuyen appeared in several films including The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961) Satan Never Sleeps (1962), A Girl Named Tamiko (1962), Diamond Head (1963), Dimension 5 (1966), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and The American Standards (2008).[6]

    With William Shatner

    France Nuyen worked several times with actor William Shatner. At age 19, she was cast in Shatner's 1958 Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong (play).[7] After a dubious initial opening,[8] the play ran for more than 500 performances and was quite financially successful. Both Nuyen and Shatner later collected notable accolades for their work on the show, at the 1959 Theatre World Awards.[9]

    Nuyen worked again with Shatner across three US television projects, starting with "Elaan of Troyius", a 1968 third season episode of the original Star Trek in which Nuyen was the title character.[10][11] She would later appear with Shatner in the 1973 made for TV movie The Horror at 37,000 Feet,[12] and afterward in a 1974 episode of the Kung Fu series entitled "A Small Beheading".[13]

    Personal life

    Nuyen had many on-and-off relationships, most notably an affair with Marlon Brando in 1960. From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist from New York, by whom she has a daughter, Fleur, who resides in Canada and works as a film make-up artist. She met her second husband, Robert Culp, while appearing in four episodes of his television series I Spy. They married in 1967, but divorced three years later. In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in clinical psychology and began a second career as a counsellor for abused women, children and women in prison. She received a Woman of the Year award in 1989 for her psychology work. In the Life cover story on Nuyen, she is quoted as saying a proverb she also repeated in character as a spy in the I Spy episode "Magic Mirror": "I am Chinese. I am a stone. I go where I am kicked."

    She resides in Beverly Hills.[1]

    Filmography

    Film
    With William Holden, in the Satan Never Sleeps (1962) trailer

    Television
    With Rod Taylor, in Hong Kong
    (1960)

    References
    1. Thomas, Nick (2 October 2019). "At 80, France Nuyen still counts her blessings". Mansfield News Journal. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
    2. Knutzen, Eirik (16 August 1987). "An Actress' Brutal Beginnings Once She Was A Battered Child Now She's Trained To Treat Them". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
    3. "France Nuyen". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
    4. Suzie Wong Film Shoot, Gwulo: Old Hong Kong, 27 November 2019, retrieved 15 March 2022
    5. How Suzie Wong Wooed the World's Book Critics In 1957, South China Morning Post, 4 July 2017, retrieved 16 March 2022
    6. The American Standards, Film Affinity, retrieved 16 March 2022
    7. Playbill: The World of Suzie Wong, Playbill, retrieved 16 March 2022
    8. Culture: Actor William Shatner On Why The World of Suzie Wong Was a Tough Act, South China Morning Post, 11 July 2017, retrieved 16 March 2022
    9. Theatre World Award Past Recipients, Theatre World Awards, retrieved 16 March 2022
    10. Star Trek The Original Series Rewatch: Elaan of Troyius, TOR, 11 May 2016, retrieved 16 March 2022
    11. Boldly Going Where No One Went Before, Santa Barbara News-Press, 7 December 2021, retrieved 16 March 2022
    12. Sci Fi TV Obscurities: The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973), Cancelled Sci Fi, 30 October 2021, retrieved 16 March 2022
    13. A Small Beheading: Kung Fu Season 3, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved 16 March 2022
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