Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film) later inspired a television soap opera in 1967, though without the hyphen in the show's title. A widowed Eurasian doctor Han Suyin (Jones) falls in love with a married-but-separated American correspondent Mark Elliott (Holden) in Hong Kong, during the period of China's Civil War in the late 1940s. Although they briefly find happiness together, she is ostracized by the greater Chinese community. After losing her position at the hospital, Suyin and her adopted daughter go to live with a friend while Mark is on an assignment during the Korean War. They write to each other constantly. She receives word Mark
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (TV series) custody of Iris and Spence's son Billy (played by Thomas Beirne III), Iris is cured from experimental laser surgery performed by brilliant neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Chernak (Paul Michael Glaser, Michael Zaslow, Vincent Baggetta). Will is smitten with Peter's mother Lily (Diana Douglas), while Peter's independent sister Dr. Betsy Chernak (Andrea Marcovicci) also joins the hospital staff. When Iris demands that Laura give up custody of Billy (Thomas Beirne III), Laura goes insane and kidnaps the child, nearly killing them both in a car crash. Tom is arrested for the murder of Julie's conniving boyfriend Jim Whitman (Berkeley Harris), but eventually