Robert Culp RIP

He was married once to France Nuyen of 'South Pacific'. She was born in Marseilles, France.



Here is 'Happy Talk' song


Bali Hai

Now THAT'S interesting. She's listed as Frances Nguyen, as I remembered, but on the photograph, clearly her signature reads Nuyen. Are we certain it was she that signed it?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638395/bio

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052225/

Her Name IS France Nuyen.

I remember seeing her name many times as France Nuyen..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_Nuyen

Here's more...

Well, just reading the first sentence, I see your well taken point. I didn't get it back then, not being familiar with Nguyen as a name and admit you're right, now - Nuyen a stage name.

Interesting woman. I have a vague memory that she was beautiful.

Nguyen is a quite common Vietnamese surname, kind of like Johnson or Brown. France, who was born in France, probably wanted to make sure it was pronounced correctly when she chose the alternate spelling.

Is there a "correct" way to spell a Vietnamese name in western script?

I don't think so.

Prob'ly not. What I was commenting on was pronunciation, not spelling. I can see where wetsern folks might pronounce Nguyen as something other than Nuyen.

In Cantonese the ng sound is similar to short hum but more nasal. My guess is that the Vietnamese are the same as the southern Chinese of Yue people. The name Vietnam is like 'yuet naam' in Cantonese meaning probably Yue people of the south - Naam in Cantonese meaning south. So it would be pronounced 'ngu' not 'nu'. I am just guessing though.

Yue people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yue_peoples