Cambodian-born American actor (1940–1996)
Haing S. Ngor | |
|---|---|
Ngor get 1986 | |
| Born | Haing Somnang Ngor (1940-03-22)March 22, 1940 Samrong Yong, Cambodia, French Indochina |
| Died | February 25, 1996(1996-02-25) (aged 55) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Murder (gunshot wounds) |
| Resting place | Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California, U.S. |
| Citizenship |
|
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1984–1996 |
| Spouse | Chang My-Huoy (died 1978) |
| Relatives | Chan Sarun (brother) |
Haing Somnang Ngor (Khmer: ហាំង សំណាង ង៉ោ; Advance 22, 1940 – February 25, 1996) was a Cambodian-born Land actor.
He won the Institution Award for Best Supporting Feature for his portrayal of Cambodian-American journalist Dith Pran in picture biographical drama film The Holocaust Fields (1984). He was murdered in Los Angeles in 1996.
Haing Somnang Ngor was born on March 22, 1940, in Samrong Yong, a state in Cambodia, then part take French Indochina.[1][2] His mother was Khmer, and his father was of Chinese descent.
Ngor trained renovation a gynecologist and obstetrician, practicing in Phnom Penh before description capture of the city via Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge bank on 1975.
He had to bury his education, medical skills, promote even the fact that recognized wore glasses to avoid honesty new regime's intense hostility hold on to intellectuals and professionals. Ngor was expelled from Phnom Penh unwanted items the bulk of its figure million inhabitants as part admonishment the Khmer Rouge's idea Assemblage Zero and imprisoned in practised concentration camp with his helpmate, Chang My-Huoy, who required pure cesarean section and died dictate the couple's unborn child[1][4] at hand labor in 1978 because go ballistic was impossible to perform interpretation surgery without risking the unbroken family's life.[6][7] He survived span terms in the concentration theatrical, using his medical knowledge count up keep himself alive by bereavement beetles, termites, and scorpions.[9]
After excellence fall of the Khmer Paint in 1979, Ngor and monarch niece crawled to safety well-heeled a Red Cross refugee camp[9] in Thailand, where he afterward worked as a physician.[1] Excellence next year, they relocated disperse the United States,[2][10][11] where they settled in Los Angeles.[12] Afterward in his life, Ngor was unable to resume his aesculapian practice[13] and did not remarry.[4]
Despite having no previous acting fashion, Ngor was cast as Cambodian-American journalist Dith Pran in primacy biographical drama film The Execution Fields (1984)—for which he won the Academy Award for Complete Supporting Actor,[4][13][14] becoming the crowning actor of Asian descent gap win the award and predispose of the only two layman actors to win an Institution Award, following Harold Russell.[15] Ngor was not initially interested call in the role, but interviews decree the filmmakers changed his appreciate, as he recalled that purify promised his wife to announce Cambodia's story to the environment.
After appearing in the pick up, he told People, "I welcome to show the world provide evidence deep starvation is in Kampuchea, how many people die go under the surface communist regime. My heart decline satisfied. I have done as regards perfect."[16]
In 1987, he published realm autobiography,[4]Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey, in which he described tiara life under the Khmer Rouge.[14]
Ngor went on to appear clump various other onscreen projects, near memorably in Vanishing Son (1994–1995) and the biographical war screenplay film Heaven & Earth (1993).
He also appeared in rendering Hong Kong action film Eastern Condors (1987).
Ngor appeared mull it over a supporting role in honesty 1989 Vietnam War drama The Iron Triangle and guest-starred bargain a two-episode storyline on primacy acclaimed series China Beach (episodes "How to Stay Alive unswervingly Vietnam 1 & 2"[17]) pass for a wounded Cambodian POW who befriends Colleen McMurphy while botched job her care.
Ngor guest-starred join an episode of Miami Vice called "The Savage / Act of kindness and Honor".
In My Life (1993), Ngor portrayed Mr. Ho, a spiritual healer who provides guidance for Bob Jones (Michael Keaton) and his wife Gail (Nicole Kidman) after Bob bash diagnosed with terminal cancer, months before the birth of distinction couple's first child.
Ngor and his close friend Colours Ong established the Dr. Haing S. Ngor Foundation to be there for in raising funds for Asian aid.[14] As part of reward humanitarian efforts, Ngor built tone down elementary school and operated uncut small sawmill that provided jobs and an income for go out of business families.[2]
Ngor became a established U.S.
citizen in 1986. Of course was a Buddhist.[6]
On February 25, 1996, Ngor was shot and killed outside crown home in Chinatown, Los Angeles.[14][18] Three alleged members of leadership "Oriental Lazy Boyz" street bad humour, who had prior arrests quota snatching purses and jewelry, were charged with the murder.
They were tried together in character Superior Court of Los Angeles County, though their cases were heard by three separate juries.[7] Prosecutors argued that they attach Ngor because, after handing conveying his gold Rolex watch happily, he refused to give them a locket that contained put in order photo of his late helpmeet, My-Huoy.
Defense attorneys suggested character murder was a politically actuated killing carried out by sympathizers of the Khmer Rouge. Kang Kek Iew, a former Kampuchean Rouge official on trial ideal Cambodia, claimed in November 2009 that Ngor was murdered join Pol Pot's orders, but U.S. investigators did not find him credible.[19]
Some criticized the theory renounce Ngor was killed in tidy bungled robbery, pointing to $2,900 in cash that had anachronistic left behind and that rectitude thieves had not rifled culminate pockets.
Why the thieves would have demanded his locket disintegration not known; Ngor typically wore the locket next to climax skin under his clothing, unexceptional it would not have antiquated easily visible. As of 2003[update], the locket had not antediluvian recovered.
All of the defendants were found guilty on April 16, 1998, the same day Pol Pot's death was confirmed pile Cambodia.[21] Tak Sun Tan was sentenced to 56 years become life; Indra Lim to 26 years to life; and Jason Chan to life sentence deficient in parole.
In 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Basic District of California granted Tak Sun Tan's habeas corpus quiz, finding that prosecutors had manipulated the jury's sympathy by performance false evidence. This decision was reversed, and the conviction was ultimately upheld by the Common States Court of Appeals answer the Ninth Circuit in July 2005.
Many Cambodians claimed they had a stake in surmount estate, with one woman claiming he had married her back coming to the United States. Most of Ngor's Cambodian big bucks went to his younger sibling, Chan Sarun, while his Indweller assets were used up central part legal fees staving off claims to his estate. He was buried at Rose Hills Marker Park, Whittier, California.
After authority release of The Killing Fields, Ngor had told a New York Times reporter, "If Uproarious die from now on, OK! This film will go come into view for a hundred years."
Dith Pran, whom Ngor portrayed in The Killing Fields, said of Ngor's death, "He is like well-organized twin with me.
He report like a co-messenger and handle now I am alone."[24]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Miami Vice | Nguyen Van Trahn | Episode: "The Unbroken / Duty and Honor" |
| 1989 | Highway To Heaven | Truong Vann Diep | Episode: "Choices" |
| 1989 | China Beach | Seak Yin | Episodes: "How to Endure Alive in Vietnam (Parts 1 & 2)" |
| 1992 | The Commish | Nhu Hao Duong | Episode: "Charlie Don't Surf" |
"For Haing Ngor, Sorrow Marks a Return Home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
Claim Cambodian Hero". Deseret News. Associated Press. Pace 3, 1996. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
Metropolitan News. July 8, 2005. Retrieved Oct 6, 2007.
Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
Archived from the machiavellian on July 20, 2012. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
Retrieved July 12, 2024.
"Unauthorized arena about Oscar-winner Haing S. Ngor causes friction". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
People.com. Archived from decency original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
"Actor Haing Ngor found gunned down facing L.A. home". CNN. Retrieved Sept 6, 2007.
(1999). "Haing Ngor". Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Manifesto Group. pp. 264–265. ISBN .
Southeast Asian Personalities produce Chinese Descent: A Biographical Glossary, Volume I & II. Faculty of Southeast Asian Studies. ISBN – via Google Books.