Lee was born in Singapore.[7] Her father was a schoolteacher, and her mother died young.[6][16] A protégée of
Malcolm MacDonald, Britain's Commissioner-General to Southeast Asia, she worked as a teacher before moving to England in 1955 to study at London's
Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art.[5][17] MacDonald introduced Lee to Dame
Sybil Thorndike, who aided Lee with her performing career.[6] Her sister Dorothy Lee, who joined her in England, later became the wife and collaborator of illustrator
Paul Goble.[17][18]
Lee married British theatre producer
Ian Albery in 1966;[19] the couple had two sons before the marriage ended in divorce.[20][21]
She died of cancer at her home in London on 6April 1997.[22][23]
Acting career
Lee's first major acting role was the
BBC's 1957 television production of the opera Madame Butterfly as Suzuki, although the actors' singing was dubbed by professionals.[24][25]
In 1966 she had a co-starring role with
Jeffrey Hunter in the
Hong Kong-shot film Strange Portrait. She played a ballerina and girlfriend of the main character played by Hunter.[33] The film was never released and is now believed lost.[8] According to director
Jeffrey Stone, the film was suppressed by the Hong Kong censors because of a scene in which Lee appeared partially nude.[30]
In 1973 she had her most prominent film role, as cult leader Chin Yang in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (released in the U.S. as Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride). Author Paul Meehan commented that stars
Christopher Lee and
Peter Cushing were "ably assisted by the quirky portrayals of
Freddie Jones and Barbara Yu Ling in supporting roles."[12]
In the 1980s she played the part of May in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation / British Broadcasting Corporation co-production Tenko, and appeared in Ping Pong (1986), the first film to be shot in London's
Chinatown.[34]
In 1990 she was in the
Richard Stanley's science-fiction film Hardware.[35] Her final film appearance was a supporting role in 1997's Peggy Su!, a romantic comedy about a Chinese teenager (played by
Pamela Oei) and her family set in 1960s Liverpool, England.[36]
^While some UK sources, including death indexes, record her year of birth as 1938,[1][2] most other sources indicate a birth year of 1933.[3][4][5][6]
^Jeffrey Stone wrote in his memoirs that Lee had also appeared in a production of Flower Drum Song;[30][31] however, her name is not listed among the cast members of the 1960 London production,[32] suggesting he may have confused this with her role in The World of Suzie Wong.
^
ab"The World of Suzie Wong"(PDF). Prince of Wales Theatre. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2018 – via David Webb Virtual Archive.