Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

I nominate for STARDOM Nancy Kwan The twenty-year-old porcelain-china doll who not only replaced unhappy and temperamental France Nuyen in The World of Suzie Wong but is Suzie — according to movie producer Ray Stark. So enchanting is this Hong-Kong-born charmer in her very first picture that William Holden, no softie about star billing, has cheerfully consented to the co-star tag going to Nancy. What isn't too generally known is that Ray Stark had considered Nancy for the role of the 'yum-yum' girl in his film before anyone else. Then he decided he needed a 'name;' also France Nuyen had played it on Broadway. But when France blew a fuse — it didn't take him long to remember Nancy and summon her to London. "No, I was not surprised," Nancy said, over the trans-Atlantic phone, in excellent English. "A seer had told me the role would be mine — and we Orientals believe in the words of seers. All the time Miss Nuyen was working in Suzie I was preparing myself, studying, making ready for the call!" (How do you like fhaf?) Although she was born in Hong Kong of an English mother and Chinese architect father (since divorced), Nancy was educated in England and studied with the Royal Ballet for two years. Later, she studied drama under Salka Viertel in Hollywood and after France Nuyen left the stage cast of The World of Suzie Wong, Nancy stepped in as an understudy of the star who replaced Miss Nuyen. When the show took to the road, Nancy was scheduled to step into the star spot in Toronto — but before she could don her costume for the opening night, the magic call came from London — the role of the movie Suzie was hers! By the way — that same fortune teller said she would be married at the age of twentytwo. "I don't know who," she said, "but I guess I will!" Shirley's Big Plans Talked with Shirley MacLaine the day she returned from Japan where she had been with Steve Parker and where she entered little Sachie in a Japanese school for six months. "I just don't know how I'll get along without her," wailed Shirley about her little redheaded carbon copy of a daughter. "I miss her so much already I could break out crying. But it's only fair to Steve that Sachie should be with him some of the time, particularly when he's been so ill." Shirley said she had gone to Japan for a second honeymoon with Steve whose movie production work keeps him in the Orient. "In stead he was in the hospital so very ill with hepatitis," she said. "He was there all the time I was in Tokyo. The only good thing about it is that I could be with Steve when he needed me most." It tickles Shirley that Sachie is learning to speak Japanese in the school she is attending "and the way she's going — she'll be talking like a native by the time I return." Missy MacLaine would not have returned to Hollywood except that she was due to start her new Hal Wallis picture with Dean Martin, All in a Night's Work. When this is completed, she planes back to Tokyo immediately to stay for a long time while she stars in an independent picture her husband will produce. Shirley MacLaine is tich Japanese. Sachie will soot d at the way her little mimic Sachie is learning be talking like a native— and have to teach mama. It's sad that the promise Audie Murphy made his wife didn't hold true. A Surprising Separation While we are in the Vital Statistics Department— the only surprising parting was that of Audie Murphy, America's most-decorated World War II hero and well-known star, and his wife of nine years Pamela Archer. Audie married the former airline hostess soon after his divorce from Wanda Hendrix and Audie and Pam have two children. This was the second time the Murphys had parted — but the reason I say this second rift came as a surprise is because of what Audie said when they reconciled: "I'm the happiest man in the world that Pam took me back. We won't separate again." Sadly, that promise didn't hold true. 23