- Nancy Kwan, The World of Suzie Wong, 1960. So many rows… When Broadway’s Suzie, France Nuyen, and director Jean Negulesco were dumped, a “second global search for another Suzie” began in December 1959, covering: McCarthy (from Jerry Lewis’ Geisha Boy, 1957), Grace Chang, Choo Oh (Miss Korea 1959), Lisa Liu, Nobu McCarthy, Charita Soliz, Luz Valde. A total pr job! Kwan, from London’s Royal Ballet School, who succeeded Nuyen on-stage, had long been producer Ray Stark’s choice. Shamefully… Because she was looked less Eurasian. Why else had he also been looking at French star Pascale Petit (from Les tricheurs and Julie la rousse) and West Side Story’s Rita Moreno and Natalie Wood… ?
- Marayat Andriane, The Sand Pebbles, 1966. “Nobu read for me in New York,” director Robert Wise told me in London, “and was excellent. Two scenes, one straight, one very emotional when her husband dies – beautiful, very moving, very touching.” However, Richard Attenborough’s screen wife became the real wife of SEATO’s Secretary General, an amateur with some stage experience in Bangkok. Her real name: Emmanuelle Arsan. Her real fame: future author of the (autobiographical?) Emmanuelle books.
Birth year: 1934Death year: 2002Other name: Casting Calls: 2