| b.1940 d. 8.28.1976
Biography
Lam joined Shaw brothers in 1957 and became famous with the film The Country Girl. In
the space of two years she became a super star and Shaw Brothers publications often called
her The Pride of Shaw Brothers. The company also set up a fan club for her and it was
said that up to thirty thousand people joined the club. Starting from 1958, Wah Kiu Man Po,
a local Evening newspaper held a contest called Best Ten Stars Award. Lam was elected
Best Star for nine years running. Altogether she made 30 films for Shaw Brothers, amongst
which are Sweet Girl in Terror, Glass Slippers, The Merdeka Bridge, When Durians Bloom, The Legend of Lee Heung Kwan and so on. She later made over one hundred movies as a freelance actress. They include Beauty in a Fallen City, Double Date,Temporary Couple, Buddha's Palm, Two City Girls and Queen of the Market Place.
Lam married and retired in 1967. In 1976 she took her own life.
- Hong Kong Tourism Board
From www.gstage.com
August 27 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the suicide of Patricia
Lam Fung, one of the most beautiful stars to ever grace the Hong Kong
screen. Back in the days when Shaw Brothers produced both Mandarin
and Cantonese pictures, Lam was the undisputed "golden girl" (or "yuk
nui" - -literally, "jade girl") of their Cantonese division, and even after
leaving Shaws remained among the most popular actresses in Hong
Kong, Southeast Asia, and anywhere Cantonese films had a following.
Born in 1939, Lam made her debut in 1957 and within a year had risen
to the very top of big screen celebrity. Capitalizing on her youthful
image, many of her films had "jade girl" in the title, and her fan club,
whose name literally translates as "The Jade Girl's Friendship League,"
had 30,000 members at its peak. She made the annual "ten most popular
stars" list nine years in a row, up until her retirement at age 27 in 1966.
By then she had proved herself equally adept at classical and modern
roles, formed her own film and fashion companies, and appeared in over
100 movies.
Lam chose marriage and motherhood over career, and by all accounts
led a life of luxury. At the time of her death in 1976, the 37-year-old
celebrity reportedly owned three houses and had US$3 million in the
bank. The press had a field day speculating as to whether or not Lam's
sleeping pill overdose was intentional, and all the rumors had something
to do with the ageing star's appearance. Some hypothesized it was
suicide induced by a botched plastic surgery operation. Others said it
was a fatal but inadvertent mixture of sleeping tablets and either diet
medicine or painkillers necessitated by cosmetic surgery.
Just as Lin Dai's son met a young and tragic end, Lam Fung"s son was
murdered in 1999, 23 years after his mother�s death. It was a sad coda to
the unhappy saga of Hong Kong�s "jade girl."
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