Who was Ley On?

Who was Ley On? – the actor mentioned in my post the other day on 1930s London Chinese restaurants. At some point he was famous in London – formally opening the Chop Suey restaurant on Shaftesbury Avenue and Meard Street. He was said to have been in a film with Anna May Wong – and indeed the lucky bugger was!.

Ley On did exist – he’s on IMDB and listed as having been in at least eight films starting with a German film – Der Weg Zur Schande – in 1930. That was one of Anna May Wong’s German films where she went to work with the expressionists after having been a success in London in Piccadilly (of which no more as I’ve gone on about that film and Anna May’s role in it many times on this blog!!). Anna liked pre-Nazi Weimar Germany and, so rumour had it, got it on with both Marlene Dietrich (well who wouldn’t and many references to her and Shanghai Express on this blog over the years too) and Leni Riefenstahl (before she went all Nazi torch parades bonkers!). The film did come out in the UK as The Flame of Love, so audiences would have seen him in London.

Ley On was apparently born in Canton (Guangzhou if you must) in 1890 but settled largely in London – in 1931 he appeared in the film The Boat from Shanghai (a forgettable romance on the high seas pic), a movie also known as Chin China Chinaman.He then appeared in a British vehicle for Charles Laughton called The Beachcomber (1938) from the Somerset Maugham novel. During the war he was obviously in London and did his bit appearing in the Powell & Pressburger patriotic movie 49th Parallel, a movie aimed at getting the reluctant yanks to come and fight fascism – Ley On played an Eskimo!!I’m not sure but I think the only photograph of Ley On I can find is the one below – a still from 49th Parallel with an eskimo in the background, possibly Ley On (but I can’t be sure – he’s not credited in the photo).

In 1942’s forgettable Banana Ridge he played a Chinese “boy” though he’d have been 52 by that point! He carried on appearing in Brit-flicks after the war – in 1947 heading to North Wales (aka the Himalayas!) with Deborah Kerr and Flora Robson for Black Narcissus, another Powell and Pressburger flick and a big hit – certainly his biggest. His last credited film appears to have been in 1950 – The Black Rose – absolute nonsense about Norman archers going to China with an embarrassed looking Orson Welles, Tyrone Power and Jack Hawkins.

I’m sure Ley On must have done other work over his career – theatre I expect. Anyone with any leads please do let me know. Seems to me we have lots more information on Chinese-American actors – major and minor – than those who worked exclusively or largely in the UK. Would be nice to build up a rounder profile.