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Haing S. Ngor
Born	March 22, 1940(1940-03-22) Samrong Yong, Cambodia
Died	February 25, 1996 (aged 55) Los Angeles, California, USA
Spouse(s)	My-Huoy Ngor

Dr. Haing Somnang Ngor (Traditional Chinese: 吳漢潤, Wú Hànrùn ^[1] March 22, 1940 – February 25, 1996) was a Cambodian American physician, actor and author who is best known for winning the 1985 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the movie The Killing Fields, in which he portrayed Cambodian journalist and refugee Dith Pran.^[2] His mother was Khmer and his father was of Chinese descent.^[3] Ngor and Harold Russell are the only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award in an acting category.^{[citation needed]}

Life under the Khmer Rouge

Born in Samrong Young, Cambodia, Ngor trained as a surgeon and gynecologist. He was practicing in the capital, Phnom Penh, in 1975 when Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge seized control of the country and proclaimed it Democratic Kampuchea.^[4] He was compelled to conceal his education, medical skills, and even the fact that he wore glasses to avoid the new regime's intense hostility to intellectuals and professionals. He was expelled from Phnom Penh along with the bulk of its two million inhabitants as part of the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" social experiment and imprisoned in a concentration camp along with his wife, My-Huoy, who subsequently died giving birth. Although a gynecologist, he was unable to treat his wife who required a Cesarean section as he would have been exposed and both he and his wife (as well as the child) would very probably have been killed.^[5] After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Ngor worked as a doctor in a refugee camp in Thailand and left with his niece for the United States on August 30, 1980.^[4] Ngor was not able to resume medical practice in the U.S.^[6] He never remarried.

In 1988, he wrote Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey, describing his life under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. In the second edition of Survival in the Killing Fields, Roger Warner, Ngor's co-author, adds an epilogue telling the story of Ngor's life after winning the Academy Award.

The "Dr. Haing S. Ngor Foundation" was founded in his honor in 1997 to assist in raising funds for Cambodian aid. As part of his humanitarian efforts, Ngor built an elementary school and operated a small sawmill that provided jobs and an income for local families.^[4] Ngor's niece, Sophia Ngor Demetri, who testified at the trial of his murderers and with whom he arrived to the U.S., is the current President of the Foundation.^[7]

Actor

Ngor, despite having no previous acting experience, was cast as Dith Pran in The Killing Fields, a role for which he later won three awards, including a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[6] Ngor also appeared in other movies and TV shows, most memorably in Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth and the Vanishing Son miniseries. He also appeared in the Hong Kong film Eastern Condors, which was directed by and starred Sammo Hung. He also appeared in a supporting role in the 1989 Vietnam War drama, The Iron Triangle. He guest-starred in a two-episode storyline on the acclaimed series China Beach (episodes "How to Stay Alive in Vietnam 1 & 2[1]") as a wounded Cambodian POW who befriends Colleen McMurphy while under her care. He also guest-starred in an episode of Miami Vice called "The Savage / Duty and Honor".

Murder

On February 25, 1996, Ngor was shot dead outside his home in Chinatown, in downtown Los Angeles, California. Ngor was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California. Many Cambodians claimed they had a stake in his estate, with one woman claiming he had married her after coming to the United States. Most of Ngor's Cambodian assets went to his brother, Chan Sarun, while his American assets were used up in legal fees staving off claims to his estate.^[8]

Charged with the murder were three reputed members of the "Oriental Lazy Boyz" street gang who had a prior history of snatching purses and jewelry. They were tried together in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, though their cases were heard by three separate juries.^[5] Prosecutors argued that they killed Ngor because, after handing over his gold Rolex watch willingly, he refused to give them a locket that contained a photo of his deceased wife, My-Huoy. Defense attorneys suggested the murder was a politically motivated killing carried out by sympathizers of the Khmer Rouge but offered no evidence to support this theory.

Some criticized the theory that Ngor was killed in a bungled robbery, pointing to $2,900 in cash that had been left behind and the fact that the thieves had not rifled his pockets. Why the thieves would have demanded his locket has never been answered; Ngor typically wore the locket next to his skin under his clothing, so it would not have been in plain sight. As of 2003, the locket has not been recovered.^[9]

All three were found guilty. Tak Sun Tan was sentenced to 56 years to life; Indra Lim to 26 years to life; and Jason Chan to life without parole. In 2004, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Tak Sun Tan's habeas corpus petition, finding that prosecutors had manipulated the jury's sympathy by presenting false evidence. This decision was reversed, and the conviction was ultimately upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in July 2005.

After the release of The Killing Fields, Ngor had told a New York Times reporter , "If I die from now on, OK! This film will go on for a hundred years."^{[citation needed]}

Dith Pran, whom Ngor portrayed in The Killing Fields, said of Ngor's death, "He is like a twin with me. He is like a co-messenger and right now I am alone."^[10]

Filmography

References

External links

• Haing S. Ngor at the Internet Movie Database
• Haing S. Ngor at Find a Grave
• Haing Ngor Foundation website
• Yahoo! Biography
• CNN story on his death

Further reading

• Ngor, Haing with Roger Warner. A Cambodian Odyssey. Macmillian Publishing Company, 1987. ISBN 0-02-589330-0.
• Ngor, Haing with Roger Warner. Survival in the Killing Fields. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0786713151.