Me Me Lai (born 3 November 1951), sometimes billed as Me Me Lay or Meme Lay, is a Burmese-British actress and television host who worked mainly in British and Italian films, most notably in the horror genre.

Life

She was born on the night of 3 November 1951 in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

to a Burmese mother and an English father. She moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in her teens, where she soon started her acting career, at first in television series like ''

Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...

'' and '' Jason King''. Soon, she made the transition to acting in movies, starting with the 1971 Mike Raven horror movie ''

Crucible of Terror ''Crucible of Terror'' is a 1971 British horror film and directed by Ted Hooker and starring Mike Raven, Mary Maude and James Bolam. Its plot centres on a reclusive artist in Cornwall. Besides painting young women, he has encased the living bo ...

'', soon followed by the 1972 sex comedy '' Au Pair Girls'' directed by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

. Lai came into her own during the era of Italian cannibal films, playing lead roles in two genre-defining movies: '' Man from Deep River'' (1972) by

Umberto Lenzi Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist. A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unr ...

, and ''

Last Cannibal World ''Ultimo mondo cannibale'' (English: ''Last Cannibal World''; also known as ''Cannibal'', ''Jungle Holocaust'' and ''The Last Survivor'') is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfr ...

'' (1977) by

Ruggero Deodato Ruggero Deodato (born 7 May 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and sometime actor. His career has spanned a wide-range of genres including peplum, comedy, drama, poliziottesco and science fiction, yet he is perhaps best known f ...

. Lai appears nude throughout most of the film, which includes an explicit shot of her

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, vestibular bulbs, vulv ...

. Additionally, she also had a part in ''

Eaten Alive! ''Eaten Alive!'' ( it, Mangiati vivi!) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film is about a young woman (Janet Agren) who is searching for her sister after her abduction by a cult in the jungles of New Guinea. Synopsis A ...

'' (1980), again by

, in which one of her scenes from ''Last Cannibal World'' was re-used. Outside the cannibal genre, she had a brief role as a Chinese brothel girl in

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

's 1978 comedy '' Revenge of the Pink Panther''. Me Me Lai also was co-hostess of British game shows '' The Golden Shot'' and ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

'', and appeared on the 1970s

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

programme ''Origami'', with

Robert Harbin Robert Harbin (born Edward Richard Charles Williams; 12 February 1908 – 12 January 1978) was a British magician and author. He is noted as the inventor of a number of classic illusions, including the ''Zig Zag Girl''. He also became an author ...

. Her last movie was

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier ('' né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nomina ...

's ''

The Element of Crime ''The Element of Crime'' ( da, Forbrydelsens Element) is a 1984 experimental neo-noir crime film co-written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is the first feature film directed by Trier and the first installment of the director's Europa trilog ...

'' in 1984. She later joined the Essex police force.

Filmography

* ''

She'll Follow You Anywhere ''She'll Follow You Anywhere'', released in the United States as ''Passion Potion'', is a 1971 British comedy film directed by David C. Rea and starring Kenneth Cope, Keith Barron and Richard Vernon. The screenplay concerns two chemists working ...

'' (1971) - Bride * ''

'' (1971) - Chi-San * '' Au Pair Girls'' (1972) - Nan Lee * ''

The Man from Deep River ''Il paese del sesso selvaggio'' (English: ''The Country of Savage Sex''), also known as ''Man From Deep River'', ''Deep River Savages'' and ''Sacrifice!'', is a 1972 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Iva ...

'' (1972) - Marayå * ''

'' (1977) - Pulan * '' Revenge of the Pink Panther'' (1978) - Chinese Lady of Easy Virtue * ''

Licensed to Love and Kill '' Licensed to Love and Kill'' is a 1979 imitation James Bond film starring Gareth Hunt as British secret agent Charles Bind. It was directed and written by Lindsay Shonteff and produced by his wife Elizabeth Gray. The film had the working title ...

'' (1979) - Female Madam Wang * ''

'' (1980) - Mowara * ''

'' (1984) - Kim

Television appearances

* ''

'' (1970) - Masseuse * ''

Hine ''Hine'' is a surname deriving from Middle English. Etymology According to the '' Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland'', the modern name ''Hine'' and its variants derive from the Middle English word ''hine'' (with the addit ...

'' (1971) - Miss Mini * '' Spearhead'' (1981) - Mimi * '' The Optimist'' (1983) - Karate Girl

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Me Me 1951 births Living people Anglo-Burmese people English television actresses English film actresses English people of Burmese descent British women police officers

Life

Filmography

Television appearances

References

Further reading

External links