Alvin Ing, best known as the romantic lead in "Flower Drum Song," died last month after contracting COVID-19.
During the pandemic, Hawaii-born actor Alvin Ing was performing on stage, on Zoom, shooting a BTS dance cover video and giving interviews right up until he got sick.
In mid-July, the 89-year-old Broadway veteran was diagnosed with pneumonia. A few days later, tests showed he had COVID-19, though he had been fully vaccinated. After two weeks of battling COVID in Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, Ing died on July 31.
His long career included roles on Broadway in “Pacific Overtures” and “Flower Drum Song,” in the national touring company of “The World of Suzie Wong,” and in films such as “The Gambler,” “Stir Crazy” and “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” as well as many television appearances. One of his greatest achievements was that he supported himself as a working actor, making a living doing what he loved. His legacy is in the battles he fought for roles for Asian actors on stage and on screen.
“He was the beloved link between generations of AAPI performers who had found employment and sometimes even stardom during a time when other opportunities were virtually non-existent,” said playwright David Henry Hwang. “As an AAPI actor of his generation, Alvin faced terrible racist exclusion, yet survived as an artist with his joy and talent (not to mention his high notes) intact.”
Ing was born in Hawaii in 1932, graduated from Roosevelt High School, and got a BA in music from the University of Hawaii. A talented singer since childhood, Ing was a member of the Honolulu Community Chorus and performed with the Honolulu Community Theater, which later became Diamond Head Theatre. Though he loved musical theater, he didn’t think an acting career was possible, so he set out to become a music teacher. He moved to New York to get a master’s degree in education from Columbia University. It was there that a friend convinced him to audition for musical theater.