Anna May Wong (1905–1961) remains the premier Asian American actress. In part this distinction stems from the historical rarity of Asian actors in American cinema and theater, yet her singularity derives primarily from her laudable acting in more than fifty movies, during a career that ranged from 1919 to 1961, a record of achievement that is unmatched and likely to remain so in the foreseeable future. During her time, Anna May Wong had significant roles in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Peter Pan (1924), Piccadilly (1929), and Shanghai Express (1932), films that are acknowledged classics. Her feature debut in The...

By birth, Anna May Wong was a third-generation Californian, with family roots that traced back to the first years of Chinese arrivals in the Gold Rush years. Both sets of her grandparents arrived in California by 1855. Between that date and Anna May’s birth in 1905, the Chinese in California went from initial acceptance to attempted exclusion in the 1880s to violent racial hostility at the close of the century. These historical circumstances shaped her life. Although she was a native Californian with roots as deep as any white person’s, Anna May Wong faced harsh social prejudice and discriminatory laws....

Following her debut in The Red Lantern, Anna May gained small, unaccredited parts in several films. First she had a tiny bit in a Priscilla Dean feature, Outside the Law, directed by Tod Browning for Universal Pictures. This film was the first of eight screen collaborations between Browning and Lon Chaney, who was ascending into stardom. The film was set in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Chaney played two roles, that of Ah Wing, the servant of Chang Low, and the mobster Black Mike. Dean played Molly Madden, daughter of “Silent” Madden, a mobster trying to go straight with the advice of...

Anna May and Lulu arrived in Hamburg, Germany in April 1928. Their arrival there occurred at a time when the nation’s film industry was trying to challenge the dominance of American moviemakers. To German filmmakers, Anna May was a major star who would guarantee attention for any production. Berliners were passionate moviegoers, attending films for the newsreels and to be entertained by beautiful women such as Anna May. Germany’s largest cinemas were on the Kurfürstendamm and near Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. There were regular screenings throughout Berlin’s suburbs and in thousands of small movie theaters around the country. Attendance was...

Anna May’s turn on Broadway in the fall of 1930 was a rousing success. Edgar Wallace, a successful contemporary novelist, had adapted his work into a play called On the Spot. The critics were not universally kind—the New York Times called her “an inscrutably loyal jade”—but the play was a success and drew large enough audiences to move after the Broadway run to a Brooklyn theater. During its run on Broadway, On the Spot became the biggest hit ever for the Royale Theater and ran for 167 performances. There was an amusing incident in the New York run...

As the cameras rolled for The Good Earth, Anna May was preparing her own production. While the Hollywood magazines were ablaze with stories about the filming of Buck’s novel, Anna May celebrated her thirty-first birthday with preparations for her trip to China. She knew that above all living well is the best revenge. She arranged with the Hearst Corporation to have the skilled cameraman Newsreel Wong travel with her in China, signed a contract to do several articles for the New York Herald Tribune, packed her trusty Leica, took all the cash she could afford, and set sail for the...

In China, Anna May was generally an honored guest. In the United States, she was just another “alleged Chinese citizen.” Immediately upon her arrival in San Francisco, Anna May was greeted with a reminder of her family’s status. On her return to the United States, Anna May had to report to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to retrieve her certificate of identity. Part of the interview required informing inspector Boyd Reynolds of the whereabouts of the rest of her family. She told him that her father was living in Chang On and that she “never saw him looking better.” Richard...

Anna May’s enforced leisure continued in the postwar years. Los Angeles offered gatherings with her old friends and some vague promises of work at start-up studios, but she missed traveling and especially longed to be in New York City. She jumped at the chance for an arduous tour in the fall of 1947, which would take her through smaller cities in the northeast. When she got to New York City, she lectured on Chinese beauty customs for Lentheric’s Shanghai Perfume at the Plaza Hotel and at Stern’s Department Store. During the trip she took time for relaxation on board cartoonist...

After Anna May’s passing, Richard took a month off from the shop. Among the first contacts he made were with the Van Vechtens, whom he thanked for their kindness in a letter on April 14. Richard said that he was tired of inactivity and was ready to get back to work. He consoled them by saying that both Anna May and he believed in eternal life and that “we will all meet again and have a real happy reunion.” Sometime later that year, Richard closed the shop and took a job at the nearby Veterans’ Administration building. The new job...