| re: Gene Nelson -- No "White Privilege" Benefit? | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 06:21 pm EST 03/08/21 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 06:11 pm EST 03/08/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Gene Nelson -- No "White Privilege" Benefit? - Billhaven 09:27 am EST 03/08/21 | |
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| Regarding Merle Oberon, TCM recently did a short documentary on her career. According to their research, both of her parents were of Indian ancestry. The studio circulated stories that she was Anglo-Indian to make her casting more palatable to a mostly white audience. She was often described as being exotic. There is no question that the movie industry was crass, dishonest, and solely out to make a buck. Keye Luke had a long, successful career, but playing Lee Chan made him a star. He was funny, great at delivering rapid fire dialogue, and so authentically Chinese. He did get to play a lot of key, non-stereotypical roles in any number of high budget, blockbuster films like The Good Earth among many others. In later decades his diligence paid off, the roles got better, and he branched off successfully into TV. He was interviewed for a Charlie Chan documentary (probably) in the late 80's. He was obviously quite proud of his career and never regretted creating and then playing for decades the role of Lee Chan. BTW in this same interview Keye Luke disputed the often circulated story about Warner Oland's true ancestry. Oland and his parents were born in Sweden, Swedish was his native language. However, Oland always stated that his ancestry was indeed Asian, not Chinese, of course, but East Russian and Mongol. Luke states pretty emphatically that Oland was an authentically Asian actor and never used yellowface make-up in the Chan films or any others. In another Chan documentary Layne Tom Jr. (who played Charlie Jr., Tommy, and finally Willie Chan) also stated that Oland never used yellowface make-up and was an authentic Asian actor. (I have these documentaries on DVD and can provide the titles if anyone is interested.) Regarding Anna May Wong, she was a superb actress and had been starring in a number of small, lower budget films. She was rejected for the role of O-Lan, but was offered the 4th billed part of Lotus in the highly anticipated, hugely budgeted The Good Earth. She turned it down. If she had accepted the role, it might have been the breakout part that could have propelled her to stardom in A films. We'll never know for sure. She went on to have a fine, multifaceted career in fashion, theatre in Europe and the U.S., and TV. |
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