Haing S. Ngor death: Was Oscar winner 'The Killing Fields' actor killed in gang-related robbery?
Ngor won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in his debut film, 'The Killing Fields'. With his role in the 1984 historical drama based on the genocide committed by the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, Ngor became the first Asian-American to win in the category. Haing S Ngor's life came to an end on February 25, 1996, when he was killed outside his Los Angeles home. Initially, it appeared to be a botched-up robbery, but more details eventually emerged suggesting the possibility of shadowy forces behind the scene.
Haing S. Ngor escapes death
Born in Cambodia, Ngor and his wife Chang My Huoy were forcibly relocated to the countryside after Pol Pot unleashed his state terror. Chang My Huoy, tragically died during childbirth while interred. But Ngor endured torture, and starvation, and concealed his role as a physician to avoid certain death. Before the Vietnamese army invaded and ousted Pol Pot in 1979, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians had been killed.
Haing S. Ngor in US
Ngor and his niece fled to Thailand, where he worked work as a physician in a refugee camp. They reached the United States the following year and settled in Los Angeles.
Haing S. Ngor offered role in 'The Killing Fields'
Haing S Ngor accidently met casting director Pat Golden who was looking for actors to appear in a film about the Cambodian genocide. Though Ngor had never acted anywhere, Golden convinced him to play Dith Pran, a journalist who survived the Khmer Rouge's reign. Ngor went back to Thailand to shoot 'The Killing Fields'.
It was a difficult role and the idea of facing on camera the traumatic experience that he had undergone was unimaginable at the time. Praising his talent, director Roland Joffe said that the
