| Betty Ting Pei | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 丁珮 (Traditional) |
| Chinese name | 丁佩 (Simplified) |
| Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Teng Pho̍ah (Hokkien) |
| Birth name | Tang Mei Li 唐美麗 (Traditional) 唐美丽 (Simplified) Táng Měilì (Mandarin) Tông Bí-Lē (POJ) |
| Born | 19 February 1947 Taiwan |
| Years active | 1967–1985 |
| Spouse(s) | Charles Heung (in 1970s) |
Betty Ting Pei (Chinese: 丁珮, born 19 February 1947) is a Taiwanese actress who joined Shaw Brothers in 1967. Despite acting in more than 30 movies, nowadays she is known because of the mysterious and controversial death of Bruce Lee in her apartment.[1]
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Born Tang Mei Li, Betty started her acting career with "China Motion Picture Corporation" in Taiwan. In January 1967, after acting in six Taiwanese films, she was spotted by Shaw Brothers' director, Peter Pan Lei, and thereafter adopted the screen name of "Ting Pei". Her first film in Hong Kong was The Purple Shell, where she acted as a dance hostess.
Although Betty had acted in dramas, comedies, musicals and martial arts films, she is better known in Asia for her mistress roles and her many bedroom scenes. She was a regular of director Inoue Umetsugu, for whom she performed in the musicals, The Millionaire Chase, The Yellow Muffler, and The Brain Stealers.
In 1973, Betty became a freelance actress, and continued to make films both in her native Taiwan, as well as in Hong Kong.
On 20 July 1973, Ting unwittingly hit the headlines when Bruce died in her apartment at 67 Beacon Hill Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. According to press reports, Bruce Lee was going over the script of Game of Death in Betty's apartment, a Golden Harvest film in which she was reported to have a lead role, when he complained of a headache. She gave him a single tablet of Equagesic, a strong aspirin-based drug that she often used herself. He then went to sleep, but when she could not wake him up for a dinner appointment with Raymond Chow, the owner of Golden Harvest, Betty called an ambulance. Lee was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Death was allegedly caused by an allergic reaction that resulted in brain edema (swelling of the brain). The coroner described his passing as "death by misadventure".
On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, due to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the movie Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.
After Bruce's death, Ting appeared in several other Hong Kong films, including the Hui Brothers' comedy, Games Gamblers Play (1974) which broke box office records. She subsequently married Charles Heung, the head of Win's Film Co., but the marriage did not last. In 1985, she retired from show business, and allegedly became a Buddhist nun after appearing in her last movie, My Name Ain't Suzie.
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