Betty Loh

Betty Loh Ti (July 24, 1937 – December 27, 1968), known as Loh Tih for short, was a Hong Kong actress originally from Shanghai. Known as the "Classic Beauty", she was one of the most celebrated actresses of Hong Kong cinema. She is most famous for her roles in the 1960 film The Enchanting Shadow, for which she was called "China's most beautiful actress" by the jury of the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and The Love Eterne, which earned her the Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress in 1963. She died from barbiturate overdose at the age of 31. Early life Betty Loh Ti was born as Hsi Chung-i on 24 July 1937 into a prominent family from Pudong, the owner of the Xi Fu Ji Factory in Shanghai. She was born in the midst of the Battle of Shanghai, one of the bloodiest battles of the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which her father was killed by Japanese bombing before she was born. She was the youngest of six siblings; her elder brother (born Hsi Chungchien) would grow up to become renowned actor Kelly Lai Chen. Her pet name was "Liuti" (六弟, literally "sixth brother", Loh Di in Shanghainese), which was later transformed into her stage name Loh Ti. Their maternal grandfather was the tycoon , who owned the Tianchan Theater, then Shanghai's grandest theater for Chinese opera. Growing up near the opera house, she became interested in acting since early childhood and often sang along with Peking opera actors. After their mother died in 1948, the children were brought up by their maternal grandmother. In 1949, her grandmother brought the children to Hong Kong, as part of the mass exodus from mainland China after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War.