Reginald Ormsby
Reginald Ormsby is the opening antagonist of the novel Crazy Rich Asians.
He was the racist manager of the hotel Calthorpe in London, England.
On a rainy night, he saw people come into the lobby of the hotel, and he walks from the mezzanine. He asks for their name: Eleanor Young. He recognized the name and realized she was Chinese and ended up here. Even though Eleanor has her name in the reservation for the suite, his racial discrimination caused him to deny the room for Eleanor and her family, assuming they are fake rich people. He then snidely remarks the Youngs to search for accommodation in Chinatown much to the fury of the Youngs. Having had enough, Eleanor asked to use the hotel phone only to be made to use the payphone outside the hotel under the heavy rain.
Eleanor comes back to hotel much to Ormsby's annoyance and he threatened to call the police on her but Lord Calthorpe came and announced that Eleanor was the new owner of the hotel as her husband just bought the hotel, much to the shock of Ormsby and the rest of the staffs. In the book, Eleanor fired him on the spot but in the movie she made him clean the floor full of dirt from the family shoes from the rain.
He is not seen or mentioned again afterwards, but since it’s been a twenty-three years, it is assumed Reginald has died before the events started.
Trivia[]
- Reginald can be considered responsible for Eleanor Young’s hate towards Rachel Chu, seeing as how he was racist and not wanting to have anyone who’s Chinese for the Hotel. This would make him the overarching antagonist of the novel and the film, overall.