Thakingyi (aka) U San Myint, who acted as a British soldier in Myanmar video films and was known as Maung Min Lukalay by movie fans, passed away at 12:20 pm on 24 July.
Thakingyi (aka) San Myint was born in Pyay on 16 March 1931. His father was a British soldier who came to Myanmar during British rule, and his mother was Daw Pan Thee. He had six siblings and his father died when he was six years old. At the age of 12, he studied at an English-Myanmar private school free of charge. He passed Standard 7 after studying there only for four years and could speak not only English but also Hindi.
He joined the Burma Army at the age of 18 after passing Standard 7. He served in an artillery battalion and was sent to Yugoslavia in 1952 for a six-month training in how to operate the 76-mm artillery. In 1954, he had to study veterinary medicine in Sakoda, Pakistan.
After that, he participated in military operations named Yangyiaung, Bayintnaung, Loitoon Camp, and Aungmayga. In 1960, he was entitled to attend the officer training course, but he was not selected due to mixed blood, so he left the army in 1962.
After leaving the army, he lived in Kandawlay ward in Yangon and worked as a veterinary staff member at the Yangon Zoo. He assisted in capturing three wild elephants in the Bago mountain range for timber extraction at the request of the Ministry of Forestry.
While in the artillery battalion in Aungban, he got acquainted with the film industry by renting army horses to be used in movies. Thus, he was recruited by film actor U Tin Nyunt and started to enter the film industry with the movie “Yanthu Ko Bamahte”.
Later, he got more opportunities to participate in movies. “Maung Min Lukalay” was a phrase used by a British officer to address a Myanmar man. Director Wah Wah Win Shwe taught him to use that phrase in the movie “Sanayma”. Thus, the phrase became popular among the Myanmar movie audience.
Thakingyi (aka) U San Myint, who played the role of the British military officer in Myanmar video revolution episodes and the “Sapalin Hnin Maung” series, died at his daughter’s home in Bago. He was 94 years old at the time of his death. — TWA/CT
