![]() ![]() She was given the nickname "Chinese Bardot" for her unforgettable dance performance. Critics lavished praise on Kwan for her performance. The World of Suzie Wong was a "box-office sensation". All we want to do is make you the best actress possible." Kwan returned to the set after lunch, aloofly wearing a bra and half-slip, acting as if what had happened earlier had not transpired. France Nuyen is no longer in it, remember? If you're difficult you'll be off it too. He warned her, "Nancy, wear the half-slip and bra or you're off the picture. Stark discovered Kwan taking refuge in her dressing room, sobbing grievously. Finding the attire too modest and unrealistic, he asked Stark to talk to Kwan. Robert Lomax, as played by Holden, tears off her Western dress and says, "Wear your own kind of clothing! Don't try to copy some European girl!" Director Richard Quine was displeased with Kwan's underclothes: She wore a full-slip rather than a half-slip and bra. During the filming, Kwan's only trouble was a lingerie scene. On February 15, 1960, she began filming the movie in London with co-star William Holden. Kwan, who previously had never been in a film, defeated 30 competitors from Hollywood, France, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. The film's director, Jean Negulesco, was fired and replaced by Richard Quine. Nuyen, who was in an unstable relationship with Marlon Brando, had a nervous breakdown and was fired from the role because of her erratic actions. She wrote in 1960 that as an eight-year-old, her fortune-teller "predicted travel, fame, and fortune for me". ![]() An affluent man, her father owned a several-acre hilltop property in Kowloon. Cared for by an amah (阿嬤), a woman who looks after children, Kwan owned a pony and passed her summers in resorts in Borneo, Macao and Japan. It was not very nice, but what could I do?" After Kwan accepted the role, the Broadway play producer sued her for leaving with little notice.Įxcept during World War II, Kwan had a comfortable early life. Kwan later recalled in an interview about three years later, "So I went to the manager and told him a lie. Kwan responded to his phone call from London, asking, "How can I come? I'm in this show." To provide a pretext for Kwan's sudden hiatus from the touring production, Stark sent a cablegram to her superiors saying her father had become ill and had been hospitalized. In 1959, one month after Nuyen was selected for the film role and while Kwan was touring in Toronto, Stark told her to screen test again for the film. She moved to England to film the movie, leaving an opening for Kwan to ascend to the lead female role in the touring production. Nuyen won the title role in the upcoming movie because of her powerful portrayal of Suzie Wong during the tour. In a September 1960 interview with Associated Press journalist Bob Thomas, she said, "I was bitterly disappointed, and I almost quit and went home when I didn't get the picture." Kwan did not receive the lead role because Stark believed she was too inexperienced at the time. Nuyen received the role and Kwan later took the place of Nuyen on Broadway. Paramount favored the eminent France Nuyen, who had been widely praised for her performance in the film South Pacific (1958). Though Stark and the male lead William Holden preferred Kwan, despite her somewhat apprehensive demeanor during the screen test, she did not get the role. In addition to her small supporting character role, Kwan became an understudy for the production's female lead, France Nuyen. When The World of Suzie Wong began to tour, Kwan was assigned the part of a bargirl.
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