Betty Ting


Betty Ting Pei is a former Taiwanese actress who was mainly active in the 1970s. Although she acted in more than 30 films, she is best known for being the center of international speculation regarding the untimely death of Bruce Lee in her apartment.

Career

Born Tang Mei Li in Taiwan, Republic of China on 19 February 1947 to a doctor family of the three generations, Her ancestral home is based in Beijing, her uncle was Zhang Xueliang and her grandfather was Bao Yulin, the chief police officer of the Beiping Police Bureau during the Warlord era.
Tang started her acting career with China Motion Picture Corporation. In January 1967, after acting in six Taiwanese films, she was spotted by Shaw Brothers' director, Peter Pan Lei, and thereafter adopted the screen name of Ting Pei. Her first film in Hong Kong was The Purple Shell, where she acted as a dance hostess.
Although Ting Pei had acted in dramas, comedies, musicals, and martial arts films, she is better known in Asia for her mistress roles and her many steamy bedroom scenes. She was a regular of director Inoue Umetsugu, for whom she performed in the musicals, The Millionaire Chase, The Yellow Muffler, and The Steam Stealers.
In 1973, Ting became a freelance actress and continued to make films both in her native Taiwan and Hong Kong. She retired from acting in 1985.

Personal life

In 1972, just after her six months in Switzerland, Ting first met Bruce Lee at the original Hyatt Regency Hong Kong and they would go on dates.
On 20 July 1973, Ting received media attention when Lee died in her apartment at 67 Beacon Hill Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. According to press reports, Lee was going over the script of Game of Death in Betty's apartment, a Golden Harvest film in which she was reported to have a lead role, when he complained of a headache. She gave him a single tablet of Equagesic, a strong aspirin-based drug that she often used herself. He then went to sleep, but when she could not wake him up for a dinner appointment with Raymond Chow, the owner of Golden Harvest, Betty called an ambulance. Lee was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Death was allegedly caused by an allergic reaction that resulted in brain edema. The coroner described his passing as "death by misadventure."
In 1976, Ting married Charles Heung and they had a daughter Candy Heung in 1977, Ting and Heung divorced in 1980. After which she would devoted her time to Buddhism practices and helped the local Buddhist community in Hong Kong.
On the 30th anniversary of Bruce Lee's death in 2003, Ting made an announcement at a press conference of her plans to write her autobiography. Although she revealed in 2008 that she had already written more than 7,000 words and that Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Overseas authors had offered to serve as her co-author, the project was halted indefinitely as Ting said that it was not "the right time" due to its complicated contents which involved other people.
In 2013, although Ting admitted that she had an intimate relationship with Lee, she said that she did not engage in any sexual activity with him on the day that he died.

Filmography