Film Buffs Hope to Buy Headstone for Anna May Wong
ew film buffs know that Anna May Wong was buried in an unmarked grave. Now, 47 years after her death, a group of fans are trying to raise funds to buy a headstone for the forgotten actress.
Wong, the first Chinese American star, died in near obscurity after a 43 year career in Hollywood and Europe in both silent films and talkies. She was buried in a grave marked only by her mother's neighboring headstone in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Now in a campaign spearheaded by silent film blog Forget the Talkies (http://forgetthetalkies.com) are rallying fans to design and raise funds for a headstone to honor Wong and her pioneering film legacy.
Anna May Wong was born January 3rd, 1905 in Los Angeles, California. She was a third generation Chinese American, and raised in a strict traditional Chinese household. Wong took a great interest in the burgeoning film industry as a child, and despite protests from her family, landed her first role as an extra in Alla Nazimova's The Red Lantern in 1919. Hollywood soon took notice of the gorgeous young Asian actress, and she soon received parts acting opposite Lon Chaney Sr., Douglas Fairbanks, and Marlene Dietrich. However the new production codes (which would later become the Hays Code) forbid the portrayal of interracial romance, and Wong found her leading roles limited.
Tired of the racial limitations of the United States film industry, Wong fled to Europe in the 1930s where she performed in some of her best films including Piccadilly. Movie studios eventually wooed Wong back to the US but again placed limitations on her, including a decision that she was "too Asian" to play O-Lan in The Good Earth (a role that would eventually go to white actress Luise Rainer in yellow face). After a string of b movies and small roles, Wong quit films and pursued a radio and television career, becoming the first Asian American to star in a TV show with The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong in 1951.
Despite her success, discrimination followed Wong to the very end of her life, with obituaries claiming her absence from film was due to a quote passed on to her by her father, "Don't be photographed too much or you'll lose your soul." Wong died of a heart attack on Feburary 3rd, 1961 in Santa Monica, California at the age of 56. She was buried in an unmarked grave next to her mother.
Rumors swirled for years as to why Wong was given no marker of her own. Possible reasons include she was near obscurity at the time of her death, and that her surviving family members were ashamed of her acting career due to their cultural upbringing. Other silent stars suffered from similar forgotten fates: both Rudolph Valentino and Karl Dane died penniless and had to rely on friends and the studio to pay for their burial and markers. Dane's marker was replaced several years later with a newer one by an anoymous donor. Florence Lawrence remained in an unmarked grave until 1991 when Roddy McDowall paid for her headstone.
"I just couldn't believe someone so legendary had been forgotten," says Hala Pickford, founder of silent film blog Forget the Talkies. Pickford, a silent film fan, began the Anna May Wong Headstone Campaign after reading a biography on the actress, "Not only should silent films and the people who created them be remembered, but we should remember they were not just actors but human beings too. Anna deserves to be honored and remembered not only as a great trail blazing actress, but as a human being as well." In addition to the Wong project Forget the Talkies has also begun a campaign to create a cenotaph for legendary director D.W. Griffith who also died in near obscurity.
Forget the Talkies hopes to raise $3,000 and to raise awareness about the forgotten actress as well as other silent stars. Donations may be made at www.forgetthetalkies.com.
July 7th, 2008
Hollywood, California
Anna May Wong lies buried in an unmarked grave next to her mother.
ew film buffs know that Anna May Wong was buried in an unmarked grave. Now, 47 years after her death, a group of fans are trying to raise funds to buy a headstone for the forgotten actress.
