Alvin Ing in a promotional image and as Shogun's Mother in Pacific Overtures
(image via @thealvining/Martha Swope/New York Public Library )
Actor and singer Alvin Ing, an advocate for Asian Pacific Americans in the entertainment industry, died on July 31 at the age of 89.
Ing died of cardiac arrest amid a battle with COVID-19 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Though he had been fully vaccinated, he had been diagnosed with the virus two weeks earlier.
When the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Flower Drun Song” went on tour after opening on Broadway in 1958, Ing played the male lead, Wang Ta (the role played by James Shigeta in the 1961 movie). In 2002, the show was revived with a new book by David Henry Hwang, and Ing was cast as a different character, Chin.
Ing also appeared in the Stephen Sondheim musical about the opening of Japan to the West in the 19th century, “Pacific Overtures,” in 1976. The cast included other pioneer Asian American actors who have since passed away, including Mako, Yuki Shimoda and Soon Teck Oh. Ing also appeared in that show’s revival.