Richard Loo
Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982.
Chinese by ancestry and Hawaiian by birth, Loo spent his youth in Hawaii, then moved to California as a teenager. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and began a career in business.
The stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent economic depression forced Loo to start over. He became involved with amateur, then professional, theater companies and in 1931 made his first film. Like most Asian actors in non-Asian countries, he played primarily small, stereotypical roles, though he rose quickly to familiarity, if not fame, in a number of films.
His stern features led him to be a favorite movie villain, and the outbreak of World War II gave him greater prominence in roles as vicious Japanese soldiers in such successful pictures as The Purple Heart (1944) and God Is My Co-Pilot (1945). Loo was most often typecast as the Japanese enemy pilot, spy or interrogator during World War II. In the film The Purple Heart he plays a Japanese Imperial Army general who commits suicide because he cannot break down the American prisoners. According to his daughter, Beverly Jane Loo, he didn't mind being typecast as a villain in these movies as he felt very patriotic about playing those parts.
In 1944 he appeared as a Chinese army lieutenant opposite Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom. He had a rare heroic role as a war-weary Japanese-American soldier in Samuel Fuller's Korean War classic The Steel Helmet (1951), but he spent much of the latter part of his career performing stock roles in films and minor television roles.
In 1974 he appeared as the Thai billionaire tycoon Hai Fat in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, opposite Roger Moore and Christopher Lee.
Loo was also a teacher of Shaolin monks in three episodes of the 1972–1975 hit TV series Kung Fu and made a further three appearances as a different character. His last acting appearance was in The Incredible Hulk TV series in 1981, but he continued to act in Toyota commercials into 1982.
Loo died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 20, 1983, age 80.
[biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]
Acted in
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
as Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Incredible Hulk
1977
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
1977
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
1976
as Chiang-Kai-Shek
The Man with the Golden Gun
1974
as Hai Fat
Police Story
1973
Kung Fu
1972
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
1972
as Master Sun
Chandler
1971
as Leo
One More Train to Rob
1971
as Mr. Chang
McCloud
1970
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
1969
as Kenji Yamashita
Hawaii Five-O
1968
as Wong Tou
The Sand Pebbles
1966
as Major Chin
Family Affair
1966
I Dream of Jeannie
1965
as Wong
The Wild Wild West
1965
Honey West
1965
as Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief
Bewitched
1964
Burke's Law
1963
as Grass Slipper
The Outer Limits
1963
as Li-Chin Sung
The Dakotas
1963
A Girl Named Tamiko
1962
as Otani
Diamond Head
1962
Confessions of an Opium Eater
1962
as George Wah
The Beachcomber
1962
as Ah Wei
My Three Sons
1960
Hong Kong
1960
as Leo
The Scavengers
1959
Hong Kong Affair
1958
as Li Noon
The Quiet American
1958
as Mr. Heng
Maverick
1957
Perry Mason
1957
as Mr. Eng
Battle Hymn
1957
as Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
Around the World in Eighty Days
1956
as Saloon Manager (uncredited)
The Conqueror
1956
as Captain of Wang's guard
The Man Called X
1956
Navy Log
1955
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1955
as Robert Hung
House of Bamboo
1955
as Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Soldier of Fortune
1955
as Gen. Po Lin
December Bride
1954
The Shanghai Story
1954
as Officer
Living It Up
1954
as Dr. Lee
The Bamboo Prison
1954
as Commandant Hsai Tung
Hell and High Water
1954
as Hakada Fujimori
China Venture
1953
as Chang Sung
Destination Gobi
1953
as Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp (uncredited)
Target Hong Kong
1953
as Fu Chao
Cavalcade of America
1952
Cavalcade of America
1952
as Ho Chung
Four Star Playhouse
1952
as Jo-Kai
5 Fingers
1952
I Was an American Spy
1951
as Col. Masamato
The Steel Helmet
1951
as Sergeant Tanaka
The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950
as Self
Malaya
1949
as Colonel Genichi Tomura
The Clay Pigeon
1949
as Ken Tokoyama
State Department: File 649
1949
as Marshal Yun Usu
Rogues' Regiment
1948
as Kao Pang
Studio One
1948
The Cobra Strikes
1948
as Hyder Ali
Half Past Midnight
1948
as Lee Gow
To the Ends of the Earth
1948
as Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
Women in the Night
1948
as Colonel Noyama
Beyond Our Own
1947
as James Wong
Web of Danger
1947
as Wing
Seven Were Saved
1947
as Colonel Yamura
Tokyo Rose
1946
as Colonel Suzuki
Prison Ship
1945
as Capt. Okisawa
First Yank into Tokyo
1945
as Col. Hideko Okanura
Back to Bataan
1945
as Maj. Hasko
China's Little Devils
1945
as Colonel Huraji
China Sky
1945
as Col. Yasuda
Betrayal from the East
1945
as Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
God Is My Co-Pilot
1945
as Tokyo Joe
The Keys of the Kingdom
1944
as Lt. Shon
The Story of Dr. Wassell
1944
as Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
The Purple Heart
1944
as General Ito Mitsubi
So Proudly We Hail
1943
as Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
Destroyer
1943
as Japanese Submarine Commander
Behind the Rising Sun
1943
as Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
China
1943
as Lin Yun
Flight for Freedom
1943
as Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
The Falcon Strikes Back
1943
as Jerry
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
1943
Road to Morocco
1942
as Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
Across the Pacific
1942
as First Officer Miyuma
Wake Island
1942
Star Spangled Rhythm
1942
as Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
Secret of the Wastelands
1941
as Quan
Doomed to Die
1940
as Tong Leader
The Fatal Hour
1940
as Jeweler
Barricade
1939
as Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
Daughter of the Tong
1939
as Wong
Island of Lost Men
1939
as General Ahn Ling
Lady of the Tropics
1939
as Delaroch's Chauffeur
Miracles for Sale
1939
as Chinese Soldier in Demo
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
1939
as Tong Chief
Panama Patrol
1939
as Tommy Young
North of Shanghai
1939
as Jed's Pilot
Shadows Over Shanghai
1938
as Fong
Blondes at Work
1938
as Sam Wong (uncredited)
West of Shanghai
1937
as Mr. Cheng
The Good Earth
1937
as Farmer (uncredited)
The Soldier and the Lady
1937
as Tartar (Uncredited)
Lost Horizon
1937
as Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
Stowaway
1936
as Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
Mad Holiday
1936
as Li Yat (uncredited)
Roaming Lady
1936
as Chinese Seaman
China Seas
1935
as Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
Stranded
1935
as Chinese Groom (uncredited)
Student Tour
1934
as Geisha's Customer
Now and Forever
1934
as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
1932
as Captain Li
The Secrets of Wu Sin
1932
as Charlie San