From the archives: Hong Kong actress Lin Dai’s tragic suicide in 1964
Fans in shock after actress dies from an overdose of sleeping pills and inhalation of methane gas just a few months short of her 30th birthday
“Film Star Dies In Gas-Filled Bedroom,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on July 18, 1964. The story continued: “Miss Lin Dai, the well-known Mandarin actress, was found unconscious in her gas-filled bedroom yesterday afternoon. She was certified dead on arrival in hospital.”
The 29-year-old star – who had won the best actress award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival four times – had been discovered by her husband, Lung Shun-shing, at their home in Jardine’s Lookout. On returning to the flat, he had found the door to his wife’s bedroom locked, the Post reported.
“I broke open the door,” he told reporters. “The room was full of gas. My wife was lying on the bed [...] unconscious. I tried to revive her with artificial respiration, but it was no good.”
Lung added that he had also found a letter written by his wife, in which she asked him to “take good care of our son”, who was 15 months old at the time of the tragedy.