American actress
Nancy Hsueh [ a] (February 25, 1941 – November 24, 1980)[ 2] [ 3] [ b] was an American actress. She was one of the first Asian American actresses to have a leading role in a U.S. television series, Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1967),[ 6] regarded as the first American soap opera to portray an interracial relationship between an Asian woman and a white man.[ 7] [ 8] She also appeared in films such as War Hunt (1962), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), and Targets (1968).[ 9] [ 4] [ 10]
Career
Born in Los Angeles , California , Hsueh made two films as a child actress, China's Little Devils (1945) and Intrigue (1947), on which her father served as a technical adviser.[ 11] [ 12]
In the early 1960s, she appeared in the Korean War drama War Hunt (1962)[ 13] and the John Ford Western Cheyenne Autumn (1964).[ 14] According to author Jon Abbott, "her exotic appearance kept her busy in the spy shows of the period, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E. , I Spy , and The Wild, Wild West ."[ 15]
In 1967, she was cast as the female lead in the CBS soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing . The series was initially intended as a continuation of the 1955 film of the same name , which told the story of an interracial relationship between an American reporter and a Eurasian doctor. Hsueh portrayed Mia Elliott, the daughter of the couple in the original film.[ 7] However, CBS censors became uncomfortable with the series' portrayal of an interracial romance between a Eurasian woman (Hsueh) and a white American doctor (Robert Milli ), and Hsueh's character was written out of the series within one year.[ 8] [ 10]
Her most prominent film role was as Boris Karloff 's personal assistant in Peter Bogdanovich 's Targets (1968).[ 16] She had only a few small parts in film and television in the 1970s; her final acting role was in House Calls (1978).[ 17]
Personal life
Hsueh was the daughter of Wei Fan Hsueh, who was born in Nanking , China , and Evelyn Postal, who was of Native American and Scottish-Irish descent.[ 6] [ 11] [ 18] She majored in education at the University of California, Los Angeles .[ 19]
On January 16, 1965, she married Daniel Carr, whom she had met during filming of Cheyenne Autumn .[ 1]
She died of atherosclerosis in Portland, Maine on November 24, 1980, aged 39.[ b]
Filmography
Notes
^ Hsueh's preferred pronunciation of her surname was , SHAY .[ 1]
^ a b A few sources state she lived from 1939–1991,[ 4] [ 5] but those dates are contradicted by vital records .
References
^ a b "This Month Meet Nancy Hsueh" . The Messenger . Madisonville, Kentucky. December 23, 1967. p. 8.
^ "California Birth Index, 1905-1995" . Retrieved 17 August 2019 – via Ancestry.com.
^ "U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014" . Retrieved 17 August 2019 – via Ancestry.com.
^ a b Ragan, David (1992). Who's Who in Hollywood . New York: Facts on File. p. 783 .
^ "Nancy Hsueh: Movies and Filmography" . AllMovie . Retrieved 17 August 2019 .
^ a b "Mia Cast in Daytime Serial" . Daily Intelligencer Journal . Lancaster, PA. September 12, 1967 – via Newspapers.com.
^ a b Du Brow, Rick (September 27, 1967). "Latest Soap Opera Cracking New Ground" . The Press Democrat – via Newspapers.com.
^ a b McNeil, Alex (1991). Total Television: a comprehensive guide to programming from 1948 to the present . Penguin Books. p. 450 . ISBN 9780140157369 .
^ "Add Short Shots" . The Pittsburgh Press . September 1, 1967 – via Newspapers.com.
^ a b Bernardi, Daniel; Green, Michael, eds. (2017). Race in American Film: Voices and Visions that Shaped a Nation . ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313398407 .
^ a b "Films Discover Seven Year Old Chinese Child" . South Bend Tribune . June 24, 1947 – via Newspapers.com.
^ " 'China's Little Devils' and 'Saddle Serenade' will open showing tomorrow" . Shamokin News-Dispatch . December 5, 1945 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Lentz, Robert J. (2016). Korean War Filmography: 91 English Language Features through 2000 . McFarland. p. 408. ISBN 9781476621548 .
^ Newell, Maxine (November 21, 1963). "Cheyenne Autumn Company Enjoys Weekend in Moab" . The Times-Independent .
^ Abbott, Jon (2015). Irwin Allen Television Productions, 1964-1970: A Critical History of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants . McFarland. p. 53. ISBN 9780786486625 .
^ Adams, Marjory (January 2, 1969). " 'Targets' at Center Theater, plea against U.S. gun laws" . The Boston Globe . p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Champlin, Charles (March 12, 1978). "Matthau Hits The Double" . Los Angeles Times – via Newspapers.com.
^ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940" . Retrieved 17 August 2019 – via FamilySearch.org. (registration required )
^ "Working Through School" . The News-Messenger . Freemont, Ohio. January 5, 1962 – via Newspapers.com.
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