Barbara Jean Wong (March 3, 1924 – November 13, 1999) was a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

actress, known for her role as Arabella on the hugely popular

radio comedy Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elemen ...

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...

. She acted in numerous films before retiring from the industry and becoming an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

teacher.

Early life and career

Wong was a fourth-generation Chinese American born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, to produce market owners Thomas and Maye Wong. She attended the Fanchon and Marco School of the Theater. She began her performance career at the age of five, as she could

read Read or READ may refer to: Computing * Read (computer), to retrieve data from a storage device * Read (system call), a low-level IO function on a file descriptor in a computer * Read (Unix), a command in Unix operating systems Places * Read, L ...

and had a clear voice, and was soon dubbed the Chinese American

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

because of her long black hair curled into

ringlets A ringlet is a type of hairstyle. Ringlets are often also known as princess hair or corkscrews. It is achieved by wrapping a lock of hair around the length of a thin curling iron The curls can also be achieved by hair rollers. Loose ringlets c ...

and her charming persona. As a youngster, Wong was also a

dancer Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, performing at events such as a fashion show for charity in 1932 and a Hollywood Women's Club costume party in 1935. Wong appeared in films as early as 1934, when she had "a featured bit" in '' The Painted Veil''. In 1937, as a voice actress, she began performing in programs for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. She played Judy Barton, one of the twins in the children's Christmas old time radio show ''

The Cinnamon Bear ''The Cinnamon Bear'' is an old-time radio program produced by Transco (Transcription Company of America), based in Hollywood, California. The series comprised 26 episodes, and was specifically designed to be listened to six days a week betwee ...

''. She was heard on several episodes of the ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a old-time radio, classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of A ...

'', '' Hallmark Playhouse'', ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', ''

Cavalcade of America ''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular Composer, composers. It was ...

'', ''Three Thirds of a Nation'', and many other shows. Her biggest radio role was on the comedy show ''Amos 'n' Andy'', in which she played Amos' daughter Arbadella. In October 1938, she began portraying the detective's oldest daughter in a new

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan ...

radio series. She also played P.Y., a Chinese character, in '' I Love a Mystery'' on radio. She attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where she earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in speech and drama, and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she gained a

master of arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree. After college, Jean (she used her middle name) began working in the movies and worked in 20 films, including '' The Good Earth'', '' The Man from Button Willow'', and '' Charlie Chan in Honolulu'', in which she played the part of Charlie Chan's Number Three daughter. Wong also played a key supporting role in '' The Trap'' in 1946 which was the last Charlie Chan movie that featured Sidney Toler. Her last role was uncredited, a nurse in the motion picture '' Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing''. Her featured-part movie career lasted from 1938 to 1955. In most of her movies, she was a backdrop, serving only as part of the scenery.

Later years

After Wong married, she retired from acting and earned her teaching credentials from California State, Los Angeles. For 23 years, she taught elementary school before retiring in 1992. She was active on the boards of multiple Los Angeles organizations, including the El Pueblo Historical Monument and the Friends of the Chinese American Museum.

Personal life

Wong was married to Robert Wah Lee, who died in 1988. They had four children.

Death

Wong died of respiratory illness on November 13, 1999, in

Tarzana, California Tarzana () is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan. His ...

, aged 75.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Barbara Jean 1924 births 1999 deaths Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American radio actresses American actresses of Chinese descent 20th-century American actresses American child actresses