Yammie Lam Kit-ying (27 April 1963 – 31 October 2018),[1][2][3] also known as Yammie Nam, was a Hong Kong actress and most notable for her performances in TVB drama series The Greed of Man and Looking Back In Anger, as well as in the film series A Chinese Odyssey. Lam was found dead in her apartment at Leung Ma House (Ma Hang Estate) in Stanley, Hong Kong, on 31 October 2018.

Yammie Lam
藍潔瑛
Yammie Lam at TVB programme Stars of Jade in 1992
Born(1963-04-27)27 April 1963
Died31 October 2018(2018-10-31) (aged 55)
Burial placeSt. Raphael's Catholic Cemetery, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
OccupationActress
Years active1983–2004
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese藍潔瑛
Simplified Chinese蓝洁瑛
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLán Jiéyīng
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingLaam4 Git3 Ying1

Career

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Lam first joined TVB in 1983, graduating from the TVB actor training class a year later along with fellow actress Margie Tsang. She was cast in a number of movies as well as TVB serials, soon becoming well known as one of the TVB's Five Beauties. She was called "the most beautiful on the five-station hill" (靚絕五台山).[4]

In 1991, Lam played the leading female role in a Taiwanese TV series. Taiwanese actress Di Ying, who was also a member of the same series, disliked Lam. Once, Di waited for Lam in a hotel lobby and kicked her in the stomach so hard that Lam stumbled far away backwards on the floor. Lam never worked with Taiwanese companies again. Di later vividly described her assault on Lam on a Taiwanese variety show with no regret, calling her "Lam the big shot" (藍大牌), long after Lam's retirement.[5][6][7][8]

In 1993, Yammie Lam won Top 10 TV Actors/Actresses at the Next TV Awards for her performance in a 1992 TV series The Greed of Man.[9]

Personal life

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She was in a relationship with a Hong Kong indigenous villager Johnny Tang (鄧啟揚), but Tang committed suicide on May 25, 1986, which greatly shocked her. From November 1986 to 1987, she had a relationship with Peter Cheng Kar-shing [zh] 郑家成, a son of Hong Kong billionaire Cheng Yu-tung, but they eventually broke up.[10][11]

In 1995 and 1997, Lam's parents died in succession. She broke up with her boyfriend afterwards. In September 1998, she got into a car accident. In December 1998, it was suspected that she was raped by Eric Tsang during Tsang's film production in Singapore. She had suffered from depression from April 1999 till her death. Her stage career was completely shattered by then despite her showing up in a few TV serials or movies afterwards.

Declared bankrupt in 2006, Lam subsequently lived on government welfare of HK$3,700 per month.

In March 2013, Lam was baptised as a Catholic at St. Anne's Church in Stanley and was given the Christian name Maria.

Rape allegations

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In December 2013, Next Magazine obtained the video of an interview with Lam, in which she said that she had been raped by two Hong Kong entertainment industry "big brothers" more than two decades earlier. Lam stated that the first man, who had raped her after consuming alcohol, had died recently. Lam alleged that another man raped her during a film production in Singapore by obtaining a key to her room, entering her room at night and rape her. She said that fears about his influence in the film industry dissuaded her from reporting the incident to the police. During the interview, the interviewer mentioned the names of the two accused rapists which was not heard but Lam acknowledged to be correct. It was noticed that portions which the interviewer mentioned the names were censored out of Next Magazine's published video; it is unknown if the edits were made by the magazine or by the interviewer.[12][13] Subsequently, an anonymous source cited on Sina News corroborated the alleged rape in Singapore and claimed that the important man had announced, to the film crew, his intention of "having fun" with Lam before he allegedly broke into her room.[14]

In January 2018, Chinese journalist Zhuo Wei [zh] uploaded what appeared to be the uncensored video of Lam's interview, which revealed the alleged rapists to be Eric Tsang and Alan Tang (deceased in 2011).[15] A day later, the rape accusation against Eric Tsang was corroborated by Grace Han, a prominent talent agent who formerly headed the Ford Models agency in Asia. Han further alleged that Eric Tsang was a serial sexual predator, and claimed to know of a specific incident where a group of showbiz men led by Tsang drugged seven female models in a Hong Kong karaoke bar and raped six of them, while one model escaped. Tsang denied both the authenticity of the video and Grace Han's claims, and a week later, filed a defamation law suit at the Hong Kong High Court against Han.[16][17]

Several media outlets raised concerns that the audio portion of the 2018 video could have been edited, noting that the interviewer's voice increased in pitch from a male-sounding individual in the 2013 video to a female-sounding individual in the 2018 video. However, experts suggested that the most likely explanation was that the published 2013 video was digitally altered to disguise the identity of the interviewer, and that the interviewer was in fact female. They also point out that the 2018 video contained unremoved background noises, indicating that it was either the original video or in an earlier state of edit compared to the 2013 video, which had noise cancellation. This implies that the person who leaked the video had access to the original unedited video and is most likely the interviewer herself.[18][19]

Death

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On 3 November 2018, Lam was found dead in her apartment at Leung Ma House (Ma Hang Estate) in Stanley, Hong Kong.[3][5] Police noted that she was found in a decomposing state, and she was last seen alive on 31 October. Her cause of death was unknown.[2]

In the evening of 9 November, a requiem mass was held for Lam at St. Anne's Church celebrated by Dominic Chan Chi-ming, the vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. Hundreds of fans came to pay tribute to Lam. Some actors and actresses who played in The Greed of Man attended the mass. Dicky Cheung read the Scripture and Maggie Chen gave a speech. Father Chan said that he had met Lam five years earlier, and that Lam had suffered a lot.[20][21]

Lam was cremated on 15 November 2018,[22] and her ashes were interred at the St. Raphael Catholic Cemetery in Cheung Sha Wan.[1]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes Ref
1985 The Unwritten Law Annie
1986 Witch from Nepal Ada
1987 Happy Go Lucky Mina
1989 They Came to Rob Hong Kong May
1991 The Tigers Wah's Wife
1992 The Unleaded Love 花貨 Mary
1993 The Bride with White Hair He Ehua
Flirting Scholar Tang's wife
1994 A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box Chunsansiniang / Spider goblin
A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella Chunsansiniang / Spider goblin
1999 Aids Heart 愛滋初體驗 Ah Qian
2002 Troublesome Night 16 Pan Jinlian

Television

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Year English title Chinese title Role Notes
1984 It's a Long Way Home 家有嬌妻 Poon Ching-man
Rainbow Round My Shoulder 畫出彩虹 Mak Yim-wan
The Return of Wong Fei Hung 寶芝林 Au-yeung Ching-ching
It Takes All Kinds 超越愛情線 Chung Suet-yi
The Return of Mischievous Lots 扭计雙星 Joe
城市小品 Fong Ching-nung TVB Sitcom
1985 Deadful Melody 六指琴魔 Tam Yuet-wah
1986 Heir to the Throne Is... 真命天子 Ho Fa
A Taste of Bachelorhood 鑽石王老五 Ku Tung-sam
Turn Around And Die 英雄故事 Tung Man-ching
Next Year Next Kins 愛情寶盒 Joanne
1989 I Do I Do 花月佳期 Monica
Looking Back in Anger 義不容情 Mui Fan-fong
War of the Dragon 還我本色 Yiu Shul-ching
The Vixen's Tale 萬家傳說 Lau Tsz
Battle of the Heart 摘星的女人 Tang Yingxin
The Final Combat 蓋世豪俠 Xue Yan
The Mamasan 霓虹姊妹花 Elaine TVB Telemovie
1990 Lovers at the End of an Era 末代兒女情 Ma Suxin TTV Drama
1991 Fame or Shame 情危夜合花 GiGi TVB Telemovie
Sergeant Talkie 妙探對講機 Yu Kam-man TVB Telemovie
半生緣一世情 Li Xiuru TTV Drama
The Poor Rich Man (TVB) 橫財三千萬 Ha Hiu-man
1992 The Greed of Man 大時代 Law Wai-ling
1993 The Iron Body Guard 大刀王五 Wang's wife
The Art of Being Together 奇情小男人 Yuan Tianlan
1994 Wounded Tracks 傷城記 Xue Ling TCS Telemovie
Crime and Passion 新重案傳真 Ting Lan
2004 Love In A Miracle 愛在有情天 Sze Yu ATV Drama

References

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  1. ^ a b "墳場研究 Cemetery Study". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b Leung, Rachel. "Former TVB actress Yammie Lam, 55, found dead in Hong Kong flat". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  3. ^ a b 【藍潔瑛逝世】友人上門揭發 55歲藍潔瑛倒斃赤柱公屋住所. 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 3 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Fans sound fund-scam alert after death of beloved star - The Standard". www.thestandard.com.hk. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b Jan Lee (3 November 2018). "Former Hong Kong actress Yammie Lam found dead at home". The Straits Times. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  6. ^ "【藍潔瑛逝世】曾遭台灣圈中大嫂毆打 狄鶯:腳踹過去就飛很遠". HK01 (in Chinese). 3 November 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  7. ^ 孫安佐之母狄鶯自述毆打藍潔瑛的過程 on YouTube
  8. ^ "许纯美怒骂李明依 大闹《快乐星期天》节目现场". sina (in Chinese). 2005-05-28. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  9. ^ "55岁蓝洁瑛去世,曾出演《大话西游》《大时代》". Thepaper. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Old%5C%20HK%5C%20Newspapers"%29%20%29%20AND+%28%20%28%20allTermsMandatory%3A%28true%29%20OR+all_dc.title%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20OR+all_dc.creator%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20OR+all_dc.contributor%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20OR+all_dc.subject%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20OR+fulltext%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20OR+all_dc.description%3A%28藍潔瑛%29%20%29%20%29&_coverpage_WAR_mmisportalportlet_sort_field=score&p_r_p_-1078056564_c=QF757YsWv5%2FYxWHIw1Z7kb9AZRHuoTL4&_coverpage_WAR_mmisportalportlet_o=51&_coverpage_WAR_mmisportalportlet_sort_order=desc "前度男友與藍潔瑛交往,鄺美雲表示不關心". MMIS. HKPL. 1986-11-09. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  11. ^ "前後只拖了兩個月,藍潔瑛與鄭家成正式分手,苦苦癡纏不開心,寧做衰人率先提出". 新翡翠. 1987.
  12. ^ JayneStars - Admitted Raped by entertainment "Big Brother"
  13. ^ Chow, Vivienne (11 January 2018). "Hong Kong Star Eric Tsang Denies Rape Allegations – Variety". Variety.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  14. ^ Sina Daily News, Dec 2013, accessed in Jan 2018 (Chinese)
  15. ^ "被指性侵女星 曾志偉:要讓造謠者付出代價". BBC News (in Chinese). 17 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  16. ^ "韩颖华指控曾志伟:性侵不止一次 曾迷晕7名模特". Sina (in Chinese). 10 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  17. ^ Chow, Vivienne (17 January 2018). "Eric Tsang Sues Sex-Harassment Accuser Grace Han". Variety. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  18. ^ HK01 article, Jan 2018, (Chinese).
  19. ^ "audio analysis (Chinese)". Archived from the original on 2019-08-10. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  20. ^ "Fans pay tribute to late Hong Kong actress Yammie Lam at memorial service". South China Morning Post. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  21. ^ "【藍潔瑛逝世】赤柱追思彌撒 鄧萃雯張衛健《大時代》演員齊送別". HK01. 10 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  22. ^ "(in chinese) 缺席蓝洁瑛追思会遭抨击 曾华倩:沉默不代表我不在意". 中國報 China Press. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
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