Mai Tai Sing (December 22, 1923 – July 11, 2018) was an American actress and businesswoman. Her acting credits include the TV series ''

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

'', ''

Forbidden Forbidden may refer to: * Ban (law) Films * ''Forbidden'' (1919 film), directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber * ''Forbidden'' (1932 film), directed by Frank Capra * ''Forbidden'' (1949 film), directed by George King * ''Forbidden'' (195 ...

'', and ''

Strange Portrait ''Strange Portrait'' is a film set in Hong Kong.The Milwaukee Sentinel Fen. 15 196Page 15, Buck Herzog, Sign Has Double Meaning/ref> It was directed by Jeffrey Stone and starred Jeffrey Hunter, Barbara Lee, Mai Tai Sing and Tina Hutchence. Its a ...

''.

Background

She was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

as May Tsang. Most of her young years were in Hong Kong. When she was about fourteen, she and her family moved back to the California Bay area. One of her early jobs was waitressing at the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrific ...

nightclub. It was there she became interested in performing. In the early 1940s, she became a chorus girl there. She met Wilbur and Jessie Tai Sing, a dancing duo. Later she replaced Jessie. By 1942, she was married to Wilbur Tai Sing and had two children to him. In the 1960s she became romantically involved with actor

Jeffrey Hunter Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr.; November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969) was an American film and television actor and producer known for his roles in films such as ''The Searchers'' and ''King of Kings''. On television, Hunter ...

. An article in ''

The Milwaukee Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently ...

'' said that they were to be married. At this time they had been working together in the film ''

''. In the 1970s she relocated to Hawaii.

Film and television roles

Film

In 1953, she appeared in a film with

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

, playing the part of Soo Lee. ''

'' was directed by

Rudolph Maté Rudolph Maté (born Rudolf Mayer; 21 January 1898 – 27 October 1964) was a Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, film director and film producer who worked as cameraman and cinematographer in Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the Unite ...

. Other cast included

Joanne Dru Joanne Dru (born Joan Letitia LaCock;Known as Joan Lacock in th1930 United States census/ref> January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, known for such films as '' Red River'', ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbo ...

and

Victor Sen Yung Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best kn ...

. Her last film role was in the ill-fated ''Strange Portrait'' that starred Jeffry Hunter. In this film she played a wealthy but reclusive and insane woman living alone in a mansion who has an obsession with a portrait of her husband that had abandoned her.

Television

In the 1950s she appeared in two episodes of ''

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'' aka ''The Affairs of China Smith'' which was an action/adventure series about an American adventurer living in Singapore. The main role was played by

Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and secon ...

. In the early 1960s had a recurring role as Ching Mei in the series ''Hong Kong''. She played the owner of The Golden Dragon, a supper club. The cast included

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including ''The Time Machine'' (1960), ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1961), '' The Birds'' (1963), and '' I ...

and

Lloyd Bochner Lloyd Wolfe Bochner (July 29, 1924 – October 29, 2005) was a Canadian actor. He appeared in many Canadian and Hollywood productions between the 1950s and 1990s, including the films ''Point Blank'' (1967), '' The Detective'' (1968), '' The ...

. She would also host

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional 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 was conceived as an alt ...

films on channel 44, a local San Francisco television station.

Club management

She had an association with clubs that goes back to the 1940s as a chorus girl, she would eventually end up in management. One of the clubs that she ran was The Rickshaw in San Francisco. That club is known for a night when

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

and

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he b ...

stopped by. She moved to Hawaii in the 1970s. Another club she managed was "Trappers", located in the Hyatt Waikiki. The club featured the Betty Loo Taylor Trio. She was hostess and manager there until her retirement in 2003 at age 79. Her retirement marked 28 years of management and hosting at Trappers and later at the Ciao Mein.

Filmography

Television

* ''Jake and the Fatman'', Eipisode: "Chinatown, My Chinatown" (1990) ... Hostess * ''Hawaii Five-O'', Episode: "Wooden Model of a Rat" (1975) ... Reporter #2 * ''Sam Benedict'' Episode: "Nothing Equals Nothing" ... Lily Sin * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "The Runaway" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "Murder by Proxy" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "With Deadly Sorrow" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "The Hunted" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "Lesson in Fear" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''Hong Kong'', Episode: "Suitable for Framing" (1961) ... Ching Mei * ''The New Adventures of China Smith'' Episode: "The Black Wings of the Fire Bird" (1954) ... Moonflower * ''The New Adventures of China Smith'' Episode: "The Talons of Tongking" (1954) ... Ah Chee

Film

* ''

The Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragment ...

'' (1951) ... Dancer * ''

'' (1953) ... Soo Lee * ''

'' (1966) * ''Forbidden City U.S.A '' (1988) ... Archival footage Mai Tai Sing filmography
imdb.com; accessed July 30, 2018.

Links

Mai Tai Sing Historical Essay
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai Sing, Mai 1923 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Oakland, California American actresses of Chinese descent American showgirls American female dancers Nightclub owners American television actresses American film actresses American expatriates in British Hong Kong