MovieChat Forums > Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949) Discussion > Actress Gloria ( Maylia) Fong dies at 90

Actress Gloria ( Maylia) Fong dies at 90


Link...
http://tinyurl.com/j9lpy4c

November 10, 1925 - October 16, 2016 Gloria (Maylia) Fong died quietly in her sleep on October 16, 2016 at the age of 90 in Costa Mesa, California. Born Gloria Suie Chin November 10, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, she was raised with a large and loving family. While visiting her sister in California, 20 year old Gloria was spotted in the canteen at Paramount Studios by writer/producer Jay Richard Kennedy, who asked her to audition for an upcoming film, Singapore, in which she was cast with Ava Gardner and Fred MacMurry. This film was followed by To the Ends of the Earth starring Dick Powell and Signe Hasso.

Adopting the screen name "Maylia" (meaning beautiful in Cantonese), she was signed to contract with Columbia Pictures. The studio publicity described her successful screen debut as "the first starlet since Anna May Wong" (The Huntingdon Daily News, March 3, 1947). She went on to appear in many additional films which included Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture, and Chinatown at Midnight. Gloria went on to be featured in magazines including Esquire Magazine and the cover of the Detroit Pictorial Magazine.

In 1947, she underwent a career change; marrying actor/restaurateur Benson Fong and shortly thereafter starting what would become a family of 5 children. Gloria sacrificed her acting career, devoting her time to raising her family in their Hollywood Hills home and running the successful Los Angeles chain of Ah Fong's Restaurants with her husband until Benson's death in 1987. Until her death, Gloria continued to be the strength and center of her family of five children and nine grandchildren. For details on the private memorial service please contact family members directly. We kindly suggest, in lieu of flowers, that donations be given to the Children's Comfort Care Resource Program. http://giving.ucla.edu/GloriaFong

reply