France Nuyen

France Nuyen

France Nuyen in Satan Never Sleeps, publicity still (1962)
Born France Nguyen Van-Nga
(1939-07-31) 31 July 1939
Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Occupation Actress, psychological counselor
Years active 1958–2008
Spouse(s) Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell (1963–1966) 1 child
Robert Culp (1967–1970)

France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn-vân-Nga on 31 July 1939) is a Vietnamese-French actress and model.

Biography

Nuyen was born in Marseille, France. Her mother was French and her father was Vietnamese. During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the Nazis for being Roma. Nuyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls "an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me". Having left school at the age of 11, she began studying art and became an artist's model.[1]

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 the October 6, 1958, issue of Life.

She became a motion picture actress in 1958. In her first role, she played Liat, daughter of "Bloody Mary" (played by Juanita Hall) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.[2] Later that year, she was cast in the lead role of the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong, opposite William Shatner.[3][4] She was originally cast to star in the film adaptation of The World of Suzie Wong, but was replaced by Nancy Kwan. She worked with William Shatner again in a third season episode of Star Trek, playing the title character Elaan of Troyius (1968); and in an episode of Kung Fu (1974).

Nuyen appeared in 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) and The Joy Luck Club (1993).

In 1978, she 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. Her last known credit is for the romantic drama The American Standards (2008).

Personal life

From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist, 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."

Filmography

With William Holden, in the Satan Never Sleeps (1962) trailer

Television appearances

With Rod Taylor, in Hong Kong
(1960)

References

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