Fellow actor Dylan Baker, recently seen on Broadway in The Audience, and in the TV series "Good Wife," reportedly tried to save her but was unable to reach her through the smoke and flames in her apartment. Fire Marshalls were quoted on the DNAinfo website as saying the fire had started from "smoking materials" that hadn't been extinguished properly.

Firefighters found Eng unconscious on the floor of her apartment, according to NBC. Eng was admitted to the burn unit at New York Presbyterian Hospital, but died Sept. 3.

A onetime Martha Graham dancer, Eng danced the role of Eliza in a London The King and I revival, and the role of George in an international tour of the musical. In the U.S. she appeared in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Chess, and a regional production of West Side Story. In later years illness forced her to curtail her dancing, and she appeared on the TV show "Law and Order" as an extra, and played a nurse in the 2009 movie "Precious."

The 1996 King and I revival was her only Broadway role.