Lai Yee (Marianne Quon)

Biography

Lai Yee was a Chinese-Hong Kong actress born in San Francisco, United States, originally named Marianne Quon. Her father was a businessman in San Francisco, and her mother was a Cantonese opera and film enthusiast. At age nine, she performed Cantonese opera at the Great China and Big Stage theaters in San Francisco every Friday and Saturday. She received traditional American elementary education at Galileo School and studied Chinese at the Chinese School Center in the evenings. In 1943, she went to Hollywood for five months and appeared in her first English-language American film, "China." In 1948, she arrived in Hong Kong with director Chau Shau-hin to develop her film career. In the early 1950s, she married Chau Shau-hin and they had one daughter. She was nicknamed "Queen of Seven Colors" for her prolific work. Her film debut was in "The Love of the Singers" in 1933. She appeared in notable American films such as "Anna and the King of Siam" and "Charlie Chan in the Secret Service." In Hong Kong, her first film was "Di Qing" in 1949, and she appeared in China's first 3D film "Jade Woman's Love and Hate" in 1953. She appeared in approximately sixty Cantonese and Mandarin films before retiring with "Three Thieves of the Nine Dragon Cup" in 1959. She passed away in 1991.