Irene Tsu

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Irene Tsu (actually Chinese 諸 慧 荷 ; born November 4, 1944 in Shanghai , China ) is a Chinese-born American film actress who also worked as a yoga teacher and real estate agent in her later years .

Live and act

Youth and education

The daughter of a banker and a painter fled the civil war in mainland China with her parents in 1947 to the island of Taiwan, held by the National Chinese, and later to the British crown colony of Hong Kong . In 1957, Irene Tsu moved with her mother and sister to the United States, where they lived with an aunt in Larchmont, a suburb of New York. Irene went to school in Mamaroneck and trained in ballet dance. When she was 14 she wanted to try her hand at dancer on Broadway and auditioned for the musical romance Flower Drum Song .

First dance engagements and attempts at acting

When auditioning, she was recommended for the Broadway musical production The World of Suzie Wong , in which Irene Tsu made her professional debut as a dancer. In 1961, Tsu won the Miss Chinatown USA beauty pageant in New York, which was reserved for Asian women. In the same year, Irene Tsu made her first Hollywood contact through the choreographer Hermes Pan and was hired for a small dance role in the film adaptation of Flower Drum Song (in German: almond eyes and lotus blossoms ). Directed by Henry Koster , who Tsu gave her first speaking role the following year, 1962, with the part of a child prostitute in the comedy In Liebe ein 1 (at the side of old star James Stewart ). In order to hone her acting skills, Irene Tsu then took acting classes with Ned Maderino, Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury and attended courses at Los Angeles City College , UCLA Film School and California State University, Los Angeles .

Breakthrough in Hollywood

From 1963, role after role followed for Tsu, both in feature films and in popular television series such as Perry Mason , Tennis Rackets and Cannons , Solo for ONCEL , The Seaview - On A Secret Mission , Mad Wild West , Hawaii Five-Zero , Cobra, Take Over , Detective Rockford - call , Wonder Woman and Trapper John, MD Though established in Hollywood and the television industry, she did not achieve stardom. Mostly she was set on the delicate Asian woman with a porcelain doll appeal or the dangerous Red Chinese agent. Although the role offers have been decreasing since the mid-1970s and Irene Tsu was soon looking for additional occupations, she could still be seen as a star guest in popular series, including Star Trek: Voyager , Cold Case - No Victim Is Ever Forgotten and Law & Order: LA .

additional

A real estate agent since 1990, Irene Tsu is a member of the Beverly Hills Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors (BHGLA). She also trained as a yoga teacher and taught this meditation teaching at the Bikram Yoga College in Encinitas, California, and at the Bikram headquarters in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills .

Irene Tsu was married to the Hungarian-born US director Ivan Nagy (1938–2015) for seven years in the 1970s and adopted her Chinese niece instead of her daughter.

Filmography (selection, cinema roles only)

  • 1961: Almond eyes and lotus blossoms (Flower Drum Song) (only as a dancer)
  • 1961: A Lieutenant and a Bed (The Horizontal Lieutenant)
  • 1963: In love a 1 (Take Her, She's Mine)
  • 1963: A marriage bed for rehearsal (Under the Yum Yum Tree)
  • 1964: One Too Many in the Harem (John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!)
  • 1965: The Sword of Ali Baba
  • 1965: How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
  • 1966: Seven women (Seven Women)
  • 1966: Women of the Prehistoric Planet
  • 1966: South Seas Paradise (Paradise, Hawaiian Style)
  • 1966: Caprice
  • 1967: Island of the Lost
  • 1967: The Green Berets (The Green Berets)
  • 1970: The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go
  • 1971: Stand Up and Be Counted
  • 1974: Three the Hard Way
  • 1974: Giants in the sky (Airport 1975)
  • 1975: Papiertiger (Paper Tiger)
  • 1975: Eiskalt (Deadly Hero)
  • 1976: Hot Potato
  • 1976: Damien's Island
  • 1977: Future Cop (TV series, continuous role)
  • 1985: Zoff in Beverly Hills (Down and Out in Beverly Hills)
  • 1987: Steele Justice
  • 1990: A Girl to Kill For
  • 1992: Help, Mommy goes crazy! (Unbecoming Age)
  • 1992: Mr. Jones
  • 1993: Snapdragon murderous tattoo (Snapdragon)
  • 1995: Hongkong Love Affair (Tian mi mi)
  • 2002: Gam gai
  • 2006: The Heart Specialist / Ways of the Flesh
  • 2007: Alibi

literature

  • Tim Lisanti: Fantasy femmes of sixties cinema: Interviews with 20 actresses from biker, beach, and Elvis movies. McFarland Publishing, 2001. Biography Irene Tsu, pp. 158-169

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tsu, Irene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 諸 慧 荷 (Chinese birth name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sino-American film and television actress and businesswoman
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Shanghai , China