Arlene Golonka Passes On

Arlene Golonka, who played Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D. and appeared in such movies as Penelope (1966) and Hang 'Em High (1968), died on May 31 2021 at the age of 85. The cause was complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Arlene Golonka was born on January 23 1936 in Chicago. She studied acting at the Goodman Theatre there. She moved to New York City where she became part of The Actors Studio. She made her debut on Broadway in Night Circus in 1958. In 1959 she appeared again on Broadway in Take Me Along. She made her television debut in an episode of The United States Hour.

In the Sixties, Arlene Golonka appeared on Broadway in Come Blow Your Horn; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Ready When You Are, C.B.!;  and The Wayward Stork. On television Miss Golonka had a recurring role on the daytime serial The Doctors and appeared in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as Howard Sprague's girlfriend Millie Hutchins. She had a regular role on Mayberry R.F.D. as Sam Jones's girlfriend Millie Swanson. She guest starred on the shows Naked City; Car 54, Where Are You?; The Defenders; The Nurses; Vacation Playhouse; ABC Sage 67; The Flying Nun; The Big Valley; Accidental Family; Get Smart; I Spy; and That Girl. She made her film debut in an uncredited role in Love with the Proper Stranger in 1963. She appeared in the films Diary of a Bachelor (1964), Harvey Middleman, Fireman (1965), Penelope (1966), The Busy Body (1967), Welcome to Hard Times (1967), and Hang 'Em High (1968).

In the Seventies, Arlene Golonka continued to appear on Mayberry R.F.D. Later in the decade she was a regular on the short-lived show Joe & Valerie. She guest starred on the TV shows The Bold Ones: The Lawyers; Sarge; The Rookies; The F.B.I.; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; The Delphi Bureau; Young Dr. Kildare; M*A*S*H; Cannon; All in the Family; Faraday and Company; Love, American Style; Chase; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; The Girl with Something Extra; The Manhunter; Police Woman; The Wide World of Mystery; Barnaby Jones; The Family Hodiak; Maude; The Cop and the Kid; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; Bert D'Angelo/Superstar; The Streets of San Francisco; Alice; Most Wanted; The San Pedro Beach Bums; Carter County; The Rockford Files; Police Story; One Day at a Time; Taxi; Sweepstakes; and Secrets of Midland Heights. She was a regular voice on the Saturday morning cartoon Speed Buggy. She appeared in the movies Airport '77 (1977), The In-Laws (1979), and The Last Married Couple in America (1980).

In the Eighties Arelena Golonka provided additional voices on the Saturday morning show The New Yogi Bear Show. She guest starred on Trapper John, M.D.; Insight; Fantasy Island;  The Love Boat; CBS Afternoon Playhouse; Gimme a Break!; The Best of Times; Simon & Simon; Benson; New Love, American Style; Valerie; The Bronx Zoo; We Got It Made; Dragnet; Growing Pains; Murder, She Wrote; and 1st & Ten. She appeared in the movies Separate Ways (1981), Longshot (1981), My Tutor (1983), Detective School Dropouts (1996), Survival Game (1987),  Dr. Alien (1989), Trained to Kill (1989), The Gumshoe Kid (1990), and The End of Innocence (1990).

In the Nineties Miss Golonka guest starred on the TV shows Drexell's Class, In the Heat of the Night, Matlock, Fudge, and The Boys Are Back. She appeared in the movies Amore! (1993), Cops n Roberts (1995), and Leather Jacket Love Story. In the Naughts she appeared in the movie A Family Affair (2001) and the TV show King of Queens.

She was also part of the cast of a hit comedy album, You Don't Have to Be Jewish, in 1965. When she proved unavailable for the follow-up album, When You're in Love, the Whole World is Jewish, Miss Golonka suggested her roommate, Valerie Harper. 

Arlene Golonka will probably always be remembered best as Millie on Mayberry R.F.D. and the many other bubbly, quirky blondes she played over the years. And while Miss Golonka will most likely be remembered best for her work in comedy, she did play other sorts of roles. She played a prostitute in the movie Hang 'Em High and the "other woman" in an affair with a married man in an episode of In the Heat of the Night. In the Cannon episode "The Dead Samaritan" she played a none-too-success, aspiring actress. Certainly, Arlene Golonka had a gift for comedy, but she was also at home with more serious material as well.

Godspeed Gavin MacLeod

Gavin MacLeod, who starred as Happy on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Captain Stubing on The Love Boat, died on May 29 2021 at the age of 90.

Gavin MacLeod was born Allan George See on February28 1931 in Mount Kisco, New York. He grew up in Pleasantville, New York. He attended Ithaca College in New York and graduated in 1952 with a degree in drama. He served in the United States Air Force. Afterwards he moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. He worked as an usher and then an elevator operator at Radio City Music Hall. As his stage name he took "MacLeod" in memory of his drama teacher Beatrice MacLeod and he got Gavin from the name of a character on an episode of the anthology TV show Climax!.

He made his Broadway debut in A Hatful of Rain. He made his television debut on an episode of The Walter Winchell File in 1957. He made his movie debut in an uncredited part in The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1958). In the Fifties he guest starred on the TV shows The Thin Man, U.S. Marshal, Whirlybirds, Steve Canyon, Alcoa Theatre, World of Giants, Five Fingers, Men Into Space, Man With a Camera, Lock Up, Manhunt, General Electric Theatre, Peter Gun, Mr. Lukcy, and Dan Raven. He appeared in the movies Young and Wild (1958), I Want to Live! (1958), Compulsion (1959), Pork Chop Hill (1959), Operation Petticoat (1959), The Gene Krupa Story (1959), Twelve Hours to Kill (1960), and High Time (1960).

In the Sixties he appeared on Broadway in The Captain and the Kings. On television he played Happy on the classic sitcom McHale's Navy in its first two seasons. In 1970 he began playing the role of Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He remained on the show for all seven of its seasons. He guest starred on the shows Michael Shayne, The Asphalt Jungle, Dr. Kildare, The Dick Powell Show, The Investigators, Straightaway, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Untouchables, Cain's Hundred, Slattery's People, The Munsters, Rawhide, Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C., The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, My Favorite Martian, Ben Casey, The Rat Patrol, Run for Your Life, Combat!, The Road West, Iron Horse, Garrison's Gorillas, Death Valley Days, Ironside, The Flying Nun, Hawaii Five-O, The Big Valley, Hogan's Heroes, Judd for the Defense, Lancer, It Takes a Thief, and The Name of the Game. He appeared in the movies War Hunt (1962), McHale's Navy (1964), The Sword of Ali Baba (1965), McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965), Deathwatch (1966), The Sand Pebbles (1966), A Man Called Gannon (1968), The Party (1968), The Thousand Plane Raid (1969), The Comic (1969), and Kelly's Heroes (1970).

In the Seventies Gavin MacLeod continued playing Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He began a ten year run of playing Captain Stubing on The Love Boat in 1977. Mr. MacLeod guest starred as Murray on Rhoda ans as Captain Stubing on Charlie's Angels. He also guest starred on Love, American Style and Wonder Woman. He appeared in the mini-series Scruples.

In the Eighties he continued to play Captain Stubing on The Love Boat. He guest starred on Hotel and Murder, She Wrote. He was the voice of Daniel in an episode of the animated series The Greatest Stories from the Bible. In the Nineties Gavin MacLeod guest starred on The General Motors Playwright Theatre, CBS Schoolbreak Special, Love Boat: The Next Wave, and Oz.

In the Naughts Mr. MacLeod guest starred on The King of Queens, JAG, Touched by an Angel, That '70s Show, and The Suite Life on Deck. He appeared in the movies Time Changer (2002), Checking Out (2005), and The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry (2008). In the Teens he was a guest voice on the animated series Pound Puppies and guest starred on The Comeback Kids.

Gavin MacLeod was a wonderful actor with a gift for comedy. Murray was one of the many great characters on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, brought to life beautifully by Mr. MacLeod. In his autobiography, This Is Your Captain Speaking: My Fantastic Voyage Through Hollywood, Faith and Life, he wrote, "Murray represented all the brown-baggers — not just in newsrooms, but in all sorts of professions." And he was certainly right about Murray. He was the sort of talented individual who worked day in and day out, the head writer of WJM-TV and Mary Richards's best friend and ally at the office. As Captain Stubing on The Love Boat he created a character who was congenial, but who could be stern when he had to be. He had previously demonstrated his talent in various guest appearances. On the Andy Griffith Show episode "The Taylors Go to Hollywood," he played actor Bryan Bender, who is playing Andy Taylor is a somewhat exaggerated movie based on Andy's life. He had earlier played Gilbert Jamel, a bank robber posing as a television producer, in the episode "TV or Not TV." And while Gavin MacLeod was well known for his work in comedy, he could do drama as well. In the first two episodes of Hawaii Five-O he played, of all things, a drug pusher named Big Chicken. He appeared on Perry Mason no less than three times. Gavin MacLeod was an incredible talent, and American television is so much the richer because of him.

TCM Spotlight on Juvenile Delinquents Every Thursday in June

Mamie Van Doren, High School Confidential

TCM Spotlight will be on the juvenile delinquent movies of the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties every Thursday this June. Each Thursday will be dedicated to a different category of juvenile delinquent films, starting off with "School's a Drag" on June 3. June 10 centres on "Jail Birds.""Running Wild" on June 17 centres on youth running wild on the streets. The month long TCM Spotlight winds up on June 24 with "Bad Boys."

Below are my picks of what you absolutely want to watch during the TCM Spotlight on Juvenile Delinquents. All times are Central:

June 3, "School's a Drag":
7:00 PM High School Confidential! (1958)
8:45 PM Blackboard Jungle (1955)
10:45 PM To Sir, With Love (1967)

June 10, "Jail Birds":
11:45 PM Untamed Youth (1957)

June 17, "Running Wild":
7:00 PM The Young Savages (1957)

June 14, "Bad Boys":
8:45 PM Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
10:45 PM Look in Any Window (1961)
12:30 AM Violent Playground  (1958)

Anna May Wong on Television

Anna May Wong was the first major Chinese American star and the first major star of East Asian descent besides Sessue Hayakwa. In fact, from the Silent Era into the early Thirties she was a superstar, easily one of the best known actors in Hollywood. Sadly, Anna May Wong's career would be hindered by California's laws against interracial marriage (on screen she could not kiss an actor of another race), as well as the fact that most East Asian female characters in Hollywood movies at the time tended to be stereotypes. As a result Miss Wong could not maintain the level of success she had in her early career. That having been said, with the advent of television, Anna May Wong was still well known. This made it inevitable that she would appear on the new medium.

Indeed, Anna May Wong's television debut would be as the star of her own show. The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (Miss Wong's birth name). On The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, Anna May Wong played a dealer in Chinese art who would often find herself involved in international intrigue and solving crimes. The DuMont Television Network aired ten episodes of the show from August 27 1951 to November 21 1951. The show was cancelled in 1952. That having been said, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong made television history. Not only was Anna May Wong one of the first female leads on American television, paving the way for characters from Honey West to Jessica Fletcher, but she was the first Chinese American lead and the first lead of East Asian descent on American television. Unfortunately, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong no longer exists. Many of the DuMont Television Network's kinescopes were destroyed prior to 1958 to retrieve the silver content in the film prints. Those that remained were dumped into the Upper New York Bay in the mid-Seventies.

Her next appearance on television was on the show Producer's Showcase in the episode "The Letter," based on the same W. Somerset Maugham play of the same name as the 1940 movie The Letter. Much as in the play and the movie, the wife of a rubber plantation manager shoots and kills a man. Unfortunately, she had written a very compromising letter to the murder victim the day she had killed him. This letter then winds up in the hands of a blackmailer, played in the episode by Anna May Wong. The episode aired on October 15 1956.

It was only a little over a month later, on November 22 1956 that Anna May Wong appeared in the Climax! episode "The Chinese Game." The episode centred on a newspaper columnist who sees a vision of himself killing his wife for another woman while playing a game in a novelty show. Miss Wong's role in the episode may have been minor, as she is billed only as "clerk."

Her next guest appearance on a show would not be a minor role. In the February 11 1958 episode of Mike Hammer, "So That's Who That Was," Mike Hammer (Darren McGavin) investigates the murder of a friend, which also leads him to the murder of a prominent citizen of Los Angeles's Chinatown. Anna May Wong played the widow of the murdered Chinatown citizen, Madame Chu. It was one of her television roles that actually allowed Anna May Wong to exercise her dramatic talents.

Anna May Wong returned to Climax! in its May 1 1958 episode, "The Deadly Tattoo." The episode centred on a serial killer who marks his victim with a tattoo who comes to Anna May Wong's character, Mayli, for help. According to Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend by Graham Russell Gao Hodges, she apparently had fun making the episode.  She researched her role by going to tattoo shops around Los Angeles and worked with a vocal coach so she could speak in pidgin English (Miss Wong was a third generation American who grew up in Los Angeles). She was also amused that she got to wear an eyepatch.

Anna May Wong's next guest appearances were on two episodes of the show Adventures in Paradise. Adventures in Paradise centred on Adam Troy (Gardner McKay), the captain of the schooner Tiki  III, who plied his trade in the Pacific. Anna May Wong played one of Troy's friends, the international moneychanger Lu Yang.  In the first episode, "Lady from South Chicago (which aired on November 2 1959), centred on a Frenchwoman (played by Paulette Goddard) who is visited by a friend, who turns out to be an escaped convict from Australia. In the second episode, "Mission to Manila" (which aired on November 23 1959), Adam Troy investigates the mysterious death of a friend's brother.

While Anna May Wong did not get a lot of screen exposure in her guest appearances on Adventures in Paradise, she played a major role in the Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp episode "China Mary" (which aired on May 15 1960). With racial unrest growing in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp (Hugh O'Brien) investigates the alleged murder of a white man at the hands of the Chinese population. As a result Wyatt's path crosses with China Mary (played by Anna May Wong), who controls much of what goes on in Tombstone's Chinese population. The episode gave Anna May Wong an important role and the opportunity to demonstrate her acting talent.

Here it must be pointed out that China Mary is an actual historical figure. Born Sing Choy, China Mary was the most important figure among the Chinese in Tombstone. She ran a store and secured jobs for many in the Chinese community there, guaranteeing their good behaviour. She also ran several illegal operations, from gambling to prostitution. That having been said, she was also known for her generosity. She was a respected figure in Tombstone, both by the whites and the Chinese. When she died in 1906, her funeral was attended by a large number of people and she was buried in Tombstone's Boothill Cemetery.

Anna May Wong's final television appearance was on an episode of The Barbara Stanwyck Show. An anthology series, The Barabra Stanwyck Show saw Miss Stanwyck playing a different role most weeks. Anna May Wong guest starred in the episode "Dragon by the Tail," which aired on January 30 1961. In the episode Barbara Stanwyck played Josephine Little (nicknamed Little Joe), who runs an import/export business. In the episode Josephine Little is recruited by the CIA to rescue a scientist being held by the Communists. In the episode Anna May Wong played Joe's amah, A-Hsing. A-Hsing is not merely a servant. She speaks her mind freely and Josephine takes what she has to say seriously.

Barbara Stanwyck appeared in three episodes of The Barbara Stanwyck Show as Josephine Little and and all three episodes were pilots for an episodic, adventure series. There is also an unaired episode of The Barbara Stanwyck Show titled "Little Joe and Hong Kong" in which Anna May Wong also appears, that appears to merely be another version of "Dragon by Its Tail." Had Barbara Stanwyck's series about Josephine Little sold and had Anna May Wong lived, it seems possible she could have been a regular character on the show.

Here it should be noted that Anna May Wong also appeared on the travelogue program Bold Journey on February 14 1956. She was interviewed by John Stephenson and showed her home movies of her trip to China in 1936.

Here it must also be noted that there was an Anna May Wong billed in episodes of the British shows The Voodoo Factor and Danger Man in 1960, and the movies The Savage Innocents (1960) and Just Joe (1960). This is not the Anna May Wong who was born Wong Liu Tsong and had a career stretching back to the Silent Era, but a different, younger actress.

Anna May Wong was set to play Madame Liang in the film adaptation of The Flower Drum Song (1961), but unable to do so because of ongoing issues with her health. She died of a heart attack on February 3, 1961, only four days after her final television appearance on The Barbara Stanwyck Show. She was only 56. It is difficult to say what would have happened had Miss Wong not had issues with her health and had lived to old age. It seems likely she would have appeared in The Flower Drum Song and that it would have revitalized her career. While roles for individuals of East Asian descent were not exactly common in the Sixties and many roles were still stereotypes, it was still an improvement over the Golden Age of Hollywood. While she may never have been the major star that she was in the Twenties and Thirties, it seems possible that she could have made a career out of guest appearances on television and the occasional appearance in movies. Anna May Wong may have made guest appearances on shows that used several East Asian actors, such as Hawaii Five-O and Kung Fu. We should perhaps be thankful that we have her few television appearances, some of which are readily available on streaming, allowing us to see a legendary performer display her considerable talent.

The Kim Sisters

Over the past decade K-Pop groups have seen a good deal of success in the United States, particularly BTS. That having been said, Korean singers found their way to the US well before the 21st Century. The Kim Sisters were three Korean sisters (Kim Sook-ja, Kim Ai-ja, and Kim Min-ja) who landed a recording contact in the United States and appeared on such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Dean Martin Show.

Music ran in the Kim Sisters' family. Their father was conductor Kim Hae-song while their mother was Lee Nan-young, a popular singer in Korea prior to the Korean War. Unfortunately, Kim Hae-song would be captured and executed by North Korea in 1950. Afterwards Lee Nan-young adopted Min-ja and then formed a singing group consisting of the three girls. She would buy American records on the black market so her daughters could learn to sing them. The Kim Sisters would perform for American soldiers in bars and nightclubs, and they proved to be popular with the American military. Their fame in Korea among Americans spread to the point that producer Tom Ball signed them.

It would take a year following Tom Ball having signed the Kim Sisters for them to arrive in the United States. Their first performances in the US were in Las Vegas at the Thunderbird Hotel as part of Thomas Ball's "China Doll Revue." Once their contract with the Thunderbird Hotel ended, the Kim Sisters began performing at the Stardust.

The Kim Sisters made their American television debut on The Dinah Shore Show on June 7 1959. Later in that September they made their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Ed Sullivan obviously liked The Kim Sisters, as they would appear on his show twenty times. Their last appearance on the show was in 1967. The Kim Sisters also released albums and several singles in the United States. While most of their singles saw little action on the American charts, in 1962 their cover of The Coasters' song "Charlie Brown" peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard singles chart, making it the first hit by Korean artists in American history.

While the Kim Sisters might not have seen a good deal of success as recording artists, they were highly successful as stage performers. They appeared on such shows as The Dean Martin Show, The Hollywood Palace, Operation: Entertainment, The Joey Bishop Show, Della, The Barbara McNair Show and The Merv Griffin Show. They even played themselves in an episode of Ensign O'Toole. They also continued to perform on the Las Vegas Strip until 1967,when Min-ja got married. The remaining Kim Sisters would afterwards perform with their brothers well into the 1990s.

Much of the popularity of the Kim Sisters in the Sixties might have been due to the fact that they were not only singers, but could play multiple instruments as well. In their television appearances they played everything from saxophone to bass guitar to banjo. Between them, the Kim Sisters could play over twenty different insturments.

The Kim Sisters would be one of Americans' first introductions to Korean culture. It was not unusual for them to play the traditional Korean instrument, gaya-geum, or for them to dress in hanbok. An argument can even be made that they paved the way for modern day K-Pop groups. At the very least, they proved a Korean group could have success in the US.

"Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto

In 2020 K-Pop group BTS made history when their song "Dynamite" hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. That having been said, BTS were not the first East Asian artists to have a no. 1 single on the Hot 100, nor were they the first artists to have a no. 1 single in an East Asian language to have a hit on the Hot 100. That honour would go to Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto, who hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his song "Sukiyaki" in June 1963. It was not only the first song in an East Asian language to hit no. 1 on the chart, but the first song in a non-European language.

Of course, "Sukiyaki" was not the song's original title. Its original title (and the one it still bears outside of English) is "Ue o Muite Arukō" (in English, "I Look Up as I Walk"). "Ue o Muite Arukō" was written by by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. Rokusuke Ei wrote the lyrics when he was walking home from a protest  against the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan. He felt frustration and disappointment at the United States' continued military presence in his country. While "Ue o Muite Arukō" was inspired by Rokusuke Ei's feeling of dejection over the failed protests, its lyrics were written so that they could refer to any loss, such as lost love.

"Ue o Muite Arukō" was recorded by Kyu Sakamoto, who had been a member of Danny Iida & Paradise King before he launched his own solo career. "Ue o Muite Arukō" would be his first hit as a solo artist, topping Japanese magazine Music Life's Popular Music Selling Record chart for three months. It was in 1963 that Louis Benjamin, chief executive of the British recording label Pye Records, visited Japan. He heard "Ue o Muite Arukō" several times while in Japan and decided to bring it to the United Kingdom. It was Louis Benjamin who renamed the song "Sukiyaki." He thought "Ue o Muite Arukō" would be too hard for English speakers to pronounce and chose "Sukiyaki" because it was recognizably Japanese and he thought it sounded catchy. Of course, sukiyaki is a Japanese beef dish. A columnist in Newsweek said it would be something like renaming the song "Moon River," "Beef Stew" in Japan.

Regardless, "Sukiyaki" proved to be a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching no. 6 on the UK singles chart. Capitol Records released "Sukiyaki" in the United States where it proved even more successful. It hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963 and topped the chart for three weeks.

Today "Ue o Muite Arukō" may not seem that significant, but in 1963 its international success was very significant. Alongside the anime shows that made their way to the United States and Europe, as well as various Japanese movies, "Ue o Muite Arukō" signified Japan's reentry onto the world stage following World War II. Perhaps more importantly, it helped erode any mistrust of Japan on the part of Americans after the war. Beginning in the Sixties, Japan would increasingly be viewed not as an old enemy, but as a valued ally. "Ue o Muite Arukō" and other pop culture artefacts imported from Japan would help a good deal in bridging any gap between Japan and the United States.

Nancy Kwan: More Than Suzie Wong

Nancy Kwan occupies a singular place in the history of East Asian actors in Hollywood. She was the first East Asian actress to achieve superstardom since Anna May Wong. Born in Hong Kong to a Cantonese architect and a model of English and Scottish descent, Nancy Kwan exploded onto the scene with The World of Suzie Wong (1960) and Flower Drum Song (1961). She was the first actress of East Asian descent to regularly play lead roles since Anna May Wong. She also became a prominent sex symbol during the Sixties. While she would never repeat the success of The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song, she would appear in many more movies, as well as on television.

Among Nancy Kwan's better remembered films is the all-star disaster movie Fate is the Hunter (1964). In the film Nancy Kwan plays Sally Fraser, the girlfriend of doomed airlines pilot Jack Savage (Rod Taylor). It is Sally who gives the movie its title, discussing the concept of fate with Savage in a flashback. Miss Kwan does well in a role that was historic for her. Despite being Eurasian in descent, it was the first time she ever played a Eurasian character.

For much of her career Nancy Kwan was cast in comic roles. It should come as no surprise that she played the lead role in The Wild Affair (1965). In The Wild Affair she plays Marjorie Lee, a secretary about to get married and feeling about nervous about it. Wondering if she had missed out on life, she then decides to attempt what would be her first and only fling at her office's Christmas party. In some respects Nancy Kwan's casting seems odd given she is Eurasian and her parents are played by Bessie Love and Paul Curran. That having been said, Miss Kwan does well in the role as a strait-laced young woman who decides to kick up her heels. The movie is notable as one in which Nancy Kwan debuted a new style. Vidal Sassoon cut her famous long hair into a sharp bob.

Nancy Kwan followed up The Wild Affair with another comedy, Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1965). In Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N., Dick Van Dyke plays the Naval lieutenant of the title who finds himself on an island in the East Pacific when he is forced to eject from his plane. Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. is severely dated in that it engages in stereotypes about Pacific Islanders (all of who seem to be played by East Asian actors except for Akim Tamiroff). While Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. is a highly problematic film today and boasts a rather poor script, Nancy Kwan still stands out, giving a solid performance that is remarkable given how little she was given to work with.

Nancy Kwan would only fare a little bit better with Nobody's Perfect (1968), another comedy that deals with the United States Navy. Nobody's Perfect chronicles the adventures of the crew of the USS Bustard shortly after World War II. The film is a run-of-the-mill service comedy, with the usual antics one would expect as such. That having been said, it has some notable performances from Doug McClure (who plays hospital corpsman "Doc" Willoughby) and James Shigeta (who plays Toshi O"Hara). Nancy Kwan plays United States Navy nurse Lt. Tomiko Momayama, enlivening the proceedings with her performance.

Perhaps unfortunately, Nancy Kwan's next movie may be her most famous besides The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song. The Wrecking Crew (1968) was both the last in the "Matt Helm" series of movies starring Dean Martin and the last movie Sharon Tate made to be released in her lifetime. In the Sixties spies were big business, and this was not lost on producer Irving Allen, who bought the rights to the "Matt Helm" novels by Donald Hamilton. While the "Matt Helm" novels are rather serious works that owe more to film noir than James Bond, the series of "Matt Helm" movies Irving Allen produced in the Sixties were outright spy spoofs. The first three movies were rather enjoyable, if frivolous romps. The Wrecking Crew is just plain bad and, at times, even downright sexist and racist. That having been said, the movie will always be remembered for a fight scene between Sharon Tate and Nancy Kwan (Bruce Lee choreographed the fight scenes). Both actresses handle themselves well and it is the one memorable scene in an otherwise dreary movie.

In the Sixties roles were rare for actors of East Asian descent and as the decade passed, Nancy Kwan was finding it harder and harder to get roles. In the Seventies, then, she would look to Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Europe for parts. She also appeared on American television. She appeared in the two-part Kung Fu episode "The Cenotaph" In a portion of the episode told in flashback and set in China, Miss Kwan plays Mayli Ho, the Chinese Imperial consort, who is being pursued by a Chinese warlord. Nancy Kwan gives one of her best performances in the role, and she has chemistry with David Carradine (who played the lead role of Kwai Chang Caine). It must be noted that this would not be the last time the two appeared together. In the 1988 mini-series Noble House, Nancy Kwan played Claudia Chen, executive secretary to Ian Dunross of an international trading company (Pierce Brosnan).

Throughout her career Nancy Kwan has taken poor material and turned out a good performance. This is certainly true of Night Children (1989). Class of 1984 (1982) had proven to be a hit and for the rest of the decade filmmakers would churn out similar movies about violent teenagers, Night Children among them.  Today, aside from being among the later films of David Carradine and Nancy Kwan's careers it might be best remembered as the second feature film my dear friend Vanessa Marquez. In Night Children David Carradine plays veteran cop Max who comes up against a violent youth gang. Nancy Kwan plays his girlfriend, parole officer Diane. Sadly, Night Children suffers from a bad script that at times borders on the unbelievable (particularly its ending). Worse yet, Max would not have been a very sympathetic character in 1989, let alone today, a situation made all the worse by the fact that David Carradine basically phones in his performance. The only reasons to watch Night Children are Vanessa (for the brief time she is on) and the performance of Nancy Kwan. Nancy Kwan takes the role of Diane and actually makes something of it.

Fortunately, Nancy Kwan would appear in better movies later in her career. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) departs a good deal from Bruce Lee's actual life, but while it fails as biography it succeeds as entertainment. In the film Nancy Kwan plays Gussie Yang, the sardonic but kindly restaurant owner and Bruce Lee's boss who funds his marital arts training. Nancy Kwan gives a great performance in the role.

Nancy Kwan has had a long career filled with many remarkable roles. And while not every film in which she has appeared is exactly a classic, they all the better for having Nancy Kwan in them. As mentioned earlier, Nancy Kwan has the talent for taking a poor script and still giving a great performance. If she is a pioneer with regards to East Asian actors in Hollywood, it is perhaps because she is just so very talented.