Noel Toy | |
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Noel Toy circa 1942
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Born |
Ngun Yee December 27, 1918 San Francisco, California, U.S.A. |
Died | December 24, 2003 San Francisco, California, U.S.A. |
(aged 84)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Noel Toy Young |
Occupation | exotic dancer, actress |
Spouse(s) | Carleton Young (1945-94) |
Noel Toy (born Ngun Yee, the "Chinese Sally Rand") (December 27, 1918 – December 24, 2003) was an American burlesque performer famous for her fan dance and bubble dance, initially at the Forbidden City nightclub in San Francisco, California. Later, she acted in films and on television.
Toy was born in San Francisco, California. She was the first of eight children born to parents who immigrated from Canton, China. Toy's parents opened a laundry in Inverness, California, where they were the only Chinese residents.
She performed her routines at the Stork Club and other venues in New York City, before returning to San Francisco, where she was most famous at the Forbidden City nightclub. In her later years, Toy had many small parts in films and television, including a role in Big Trouble in Little China and frequent portrayals of Korean villagers in M*A*S*H.
Toy met and married a soldier and actor named Carleton Young in 1945, who became enamored with the dancer after seeing her perform at Latin Quarter (nightclub) in New York. They remained married until her husband's death in 1994. They had no children.