France Nuyen

{{short description|French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor (b. 1939)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = France Nuyen

| image = France Nuyen in Towson.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Nuyen in 2002

| birth_name = France Nguyen Van Nga

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1939|07|31}}

| birth_place = Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|model|psychological counsellor}}

| yearsactive = 1958–2008

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Thomas Gaspar Morell|1963|1966|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Robert Culp|1967|1970|end=divorced}}

}}

| children = 1

}}

France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor. She is known to film audiences for playing romantic leads in South Pacific (1958), Satan Never Sleeps (1962), and A Girl Named Tamiko (also 1962), and for playing Ying-Ying St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also originated the title role in the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong, based on the novel of the same name. She is a Theatre World Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee.

Early life

Nuyen was born France Nguyễn Vân Nga in Marseille, the daughter of a Romani French mother and a father from French Indochina. Her father is widely reported to be Viet; however, Nuyen identifies him and herself as Chinese or Hoa.{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Nick|title=At 80, France Nuyen still counts her blessings|url=https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/entertainment/2019/10/02/entertainment-france-nuyen-star-trek-actors/3818240002/|website=Mansfield News Journal|date=2 October 2019|access-date=5 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118091901/https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/entertainment/2019/10/02/entertainment-france-nuyen-star-trek-actors/3818240002/|archive-date=18 November 2021}} Nuyen’s father abandoned her and her mother when she was young, and she was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls "an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me." During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Nazis for being Romani.{{fact|date=May 2024}}

Having left school at the age of 11, she began studying art and became an artist's model.{{cite news| url=http://articles.philly.com/1987-08-16/living/26169411_1_france-nuyen-french-bakery-modeling-job| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006104549/http://articles.philly.com/1987-08-16/living/26169411_1_france-nuyen-french-bakery-modeling-job| archive-date=6 October 2016| title=An Actress' Brutal Beginnings Once She Was A Battered Child Now She's Trained To Treat Them| date=16 August 1987| last=Knutzen| first=Eirik| newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer| access-date=10 June 2020}} She was later signed to Candy Jones’ agency, and moved to New York City at age 16. In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nuyen was discovered on the beach by Life photographer Philippe Halsman. She was featured on the cover of 6 October 1958 issue of Life.

Career

File:France Nuyen 1958.jpg

France Nuyen became a motion picture actress in 1958. In her first role, she appeared as Liat, daughter of Bloody Mary (played by Juanita Hall), in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.{{cite journal| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413170809/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/france-nuyen-57294215/| url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/france-nuyen-57294215/| title=France Nuyen| archive-date=April 13, 2016| journal=Hollywood.com| access-date=June 10, 2020}}

In 1978 Nuyen guest-starred with Peter Falk and Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode "Murder Under Glass". In 1986 she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988.

Nuyen appeared in several films including The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961) Satan Never Sleeps (1962), A Girl Named Tamiko (1962), Diamond Head (1963), Dimension 5 (1966), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), The Joy Luck Club (1993), and The American Standards (2008).{{citation|url=https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film626836.html |title=The American Standards| publisher=Film Affinity |date= |access-date=16 March 2022}}

=With William Shatner=

France Nuyen worked several times with actor William Shatner. At age 19, she was cast in Shatner's 1958 Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong.{{citation|url=https://www.playbill.com/production/the-world-of-suzie-wong-broadhurst-theatre-vault-0000002068 |title=Playbill: The World of Suzie Wong| publisher=Playbill |date= |access-date=16 March 2022}} After a dubious initial opening,{{citation|url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2102113/actor-william-shatner-why-world-suzie-wong-was-tough-act |title=Culture: Actor William Shatner On Why The World of Suzie Wong Was a Tough Act | publisher=South China Morning Post |date=11 July 2017 |access-date=16 March 2022}} the play ran for more than 500 performances and was quite financially successful. Both Nuyen and Shatner later collected notable accolades for their work on the show at the 1959 Theatre World Awards.{{citation|url=https://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html |title=Theatre World Award Past Recipients| publisher=Theatre World Awards |date= |access-date=16 March 2022}}

Nuyen worked again with Shatner across three US television projects, starting with "Elaan of Troyius", a 1968 third season episode of the original Star Trek in which Nuyen was the title character.{{citation|url=https://www.tor.com/2016/05/11/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-elaan-of-troyius/ |title=Star Trek The Original Series Rewatch: Elaan of Troyius| publisher=TOR |date=11 May 2016 |access-date=16 March 2022}}{{citation |url=https://newspress.com/boldly-going-where-no-one-went-before/ |title=Boldly Going Where No One Went Before |publisher=Santa Barbara News-Press |date=7 December 2021 |access-date=16 March 2022 |archive-date=28 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128160040/https://newspress.com/boldly-going-where-no-one-went-before/ |url-status=dead }} She would later appear with Shatner in the 1973 made-for-TV movie The Horror at 37,000 Feet,{{citation|url=https://www.cancelledscifi.com/2021/10/30/sci-fi-tv-obscurities-the-horror-at-37000-feet-1973/ |title=Sci Fi TV Obscurities: The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)| publisher=Cancelled Sci Fi |date=30 October 2021 |access-date=16 March 2022}} and afterward in a 1974 episode of the Kung Fu series entitled "A Small Beheading".{{citation|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/kung_fu/s03/e03 |title=A Small Beheading: Kung Fu Season 3 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |date= |access-date=16 March 2022}}

Personal life

Nuyen had many on-and-off relationships, most notably an affair with Marlon Brando in 1960. From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist from New York, by whom she has a daughter, Fleur, who resides in Canada and works as a film make-up artist. She met her second husband, Robert Culp, while appearing in four episodes of his television series I Spy. They married in 1967, but divorced three years later.

In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in clinical psychology and began a second career as a counselor for abused women and children and women in prison. She received a Woman of the Year award in 1989 for her psychology work. In the Life cover story on Nuyen, she is quoted as saying a proverb she also repeated in character as a spy in the I Spy episode "Magic Mirror": "I am Chinese. I am a stone. I go where I am kicked."

As of 2019, she resides in Beverly Hills.

Filmography

=Film=

Image:France Nuyen-William Holden in Satan Never Sleeps trailer.jpg, in the Satan Never Sleeps (1962) trailer]]

South Pacific (1958) - Liat
In Love and War (1958) - Kalai Ducanne
The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961) - Cindy Hamilton
Satan Never Sleeps (1962) - Siu Lan
A Girl Named Tamiko (1962) - Tamiko
Diamond Head (1962) - Mai Chen
Marco Polo (1962)
Man in the Middle (1964) - Kate Davray
Dimension 5 (1966) - Kitty (Ki Ti Tsu)
Black Water Gold (1970, TV Movie) - Thais
One More Train to Rob (1971) - Ah Toy
Slingshot (1971)
The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973, TV Movie) - Annalik
The Big Game (1973) - Atanga
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) - Alma
Code Name: Diamond Head (1977, TV Movie) - Tso-Tsing
China Cry (1990) - Mrs. Sung
The Joy Luck Club (1993) - Ying-Ying - The Mother
A Passion to Kill (1994) - Lou Mazaud
Angry Cafe (1995) - Rosie
The Magic Pearl (1997) - (voice)
A Smile Like Yours (1997) - Dr. Chin
The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003) - Xiou-Xiou Ling
The American Standards (2008) - Dr. Pierce

=Television=

Image:France Nuyen-Rod Taylor in Hong Kong.jpg, in Hong Kong
(1960)]]

Hong Kong - episode "Clear for Action" (1960)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - episode "The Cherry Blossom Affair" (1965)
Gunsmoke - episode "Gunfighter, R.I.P." (1966) - as Ching Lee (S12E6)
Gunsmoke - episode "Honor Before Justice" (1966) - as Sarah
I Spy - four episodes (1966-1967)
Star Trek (1968) – Elaan in S3:E13, "Elaan of Troyius"
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968)
Turn-On (1969) - Guested on unaired 2nd episode alongside then husband Robert Culp
Medical Center - episode "The Battle of Lili Wu" (1969)
Hawaii Five-O - episode "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave" (1971)
Kung Fu - episode "A Small Beheading" (1974)
The Six Million Dollar Man - episode "The Coward" (1974)
Hawaii Five-O - episode "Small Witness, Large Crime" (S7 EP 17, 1975)
Code Name: Diamond Head (1977)
Charlie's Angels - episode "Angels in Paradise" (1977)
Columbo - episode "Murder Under Glass" (1978)
Fantasy Island - "Return to Fantasy Island" (1978)
Automan - episode "Ships in the Night" (1984)
Magnum, P.I. - episode "Torah, Torah, Torah" (1985)
Murder, She Wrote - episode "A Death in Hong Kong" (1993)
St. Elsewhere (1986-1988) as Dr. Paulette Kiem.
The Outer Limits - episode "Ripper" (1999)
"Tom Clancy's Op-Center" - Li Tang (1995)
Knots Landing (1990) as a doctor