Patricia Lam Fung

Biography

Patricia Lam Fung, also known as Lam Fung, was a Hong Kong actress born in 1940. Her original name was Fung Suet Yi, also known as Fung Suet Yin. She was of Taishan, Guangdong descent. She attended Precious Blood Girls' School. At age 16, she entered Shaw Brothers' Cantonese film group actor training class. Her debut film was "The Maiden's Spring" (1958), which made her famous overnight. She later starred with Cheung Ying Choi in "Queen of the Market," which propelled her career to its peak. She was nicknamed "Silver Screen Maiden" and was one of the most popular actresses in Hong Kong at that time. She formed a sworn sisterhood with seven Cantonese opera actresses known collectively as the "Eight Peonies," with Lam being the "Yellow Peony." In 1967, she married T'ang Wing-cheng, son of Kowloon Motor Bus founder T'ang Huan-t'ang and brother of T'ang Yuet-ching, after which she retired from acting and gave birth to a son named T'ang Chak-sum. On August 28, 1976, she died at her home in Chater Road, Jardine's Lookout, Hong Kong from an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 36. It was said her suicide was related to an unhappy marital life and her failure to lose weight.