Virginia Weidler

She died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, after suffering the effects of heart disease for several years. In October 2004, Yeoh denied reports she was engaged to Formula One Scuderia Ferrari team principal Jean Todt. She married after her retirement and distanced herself from her Hollywood career, and for the rest of her life politely refused any requests for interviews. Like many other Hong Kong stars, Yeoh has attempted to break into Hollywood. Despite starring in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and the popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which also starred Zhang Ziyi, she has not won a mainstream audience in the English-speaking world. By her retirment at the age of 17 she had appeared in more than forty films, and had acted with some of the biggest stars of her era, including Clark Gable and Myrna Loy in Too Hot to Handle (1938), Bette Davis in All This and Heaven Too (1940), and Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Babes on Broadway (1941), but she was not able to make continue her success as an actor into adulthood. Dato' is an honorary Malaysian title somewhat like an English knighthood, and it lies below the ranks of Dato' Seri, Tan Sri and Tun. After a string of box-office disappointments, her film career ended with her final performance in 1943. In 2001, Yeoh was given the title of dato' by the Sultan of Perak, her native state.

She continued acting but by this time was maturing, and as a teenager was less popular with audiences. In some of her early films, she recited her dialogue by rote. Her next major success, and the film for which she is perhaps best remembered was The Philadelphia Story (1941) in which she played the wise-cracking younger sister of Katharine Hepburn. Yeoh learned English and Malay before Chinese (Cantonese dialect), and still cannot read Chinese. She was one of the all-female cast of The Women (1939), as Norma Shearer's daughter, a role that was uncharacteristically sentimental for her. She is one of the few women Jackie Chan allows to do her own stunts in his movies; they first worked together on a commercial in 1984. The film was a success and over the next few years Weidler was regularly employed by the studio, usually playing precocious tom-boys. She relies on her dance training and instructors, and does many of her own stunts.

Her first film for them was opposite their leading male star Mickey Rooney in Love Is A Headache (1938). Despite having no formal martial arts training, Yeoh is best known for her roles in action and martial arts movies (notably The Heroic Trio 1993, Wing Chun 1994 and Police Story 3). Neither studio made full use of her abilities, and when Paramount did not extend her contract, she was signed by MGM. Yeoh is a Chinese Malaysian born in Ipoh, Malaysia. Over the next few years she played minor roles in films for RKO and Paramount Studios. Dato' Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊 pinyin: Yáng Zǐqióng; born August 6, 1962) is a Hong Kong-based actress and dancer, sometimes billed as "Michelle Khan". Born in Eagle Rock, California, Weidler made her first film appearance in 1933.

Virginia Weidler (March 21, 1926 – July 1, 1968) was an American child actor, popular in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s.