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]
Known for
Perry Mason
Mr. Eng
My Three Sons
Hawaii Five-O
Wong Tou
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
The Incredible Hulk
Studio One
Bewitched
Burke's Law
Grass Slipper
I Dream of Jeannie
Wong
Maverick
Four Star Playhouse
Jo-Kai
The Wild Wild West
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
The Outer Limits
Li-Chin Sung
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America
Ho Chung
December Bride
Police Story
Navy Log
Family Affair
McCloud
The Man with the Golden Gun
Hai Fat
The Man Called X
Honey West
Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief
Hong Kong
Leo
The Sand Pebbles
Major Chin
The Dakotas
The Beachcomber
Ah Wei
Lost Horizon
Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
Lady of the Tropics
Delaroch's Chauffeur
One More Train to Rob
Mr. Chang
Wake Island
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Captain Li
The Keys of the Kingdom
Lt. Shon
Back to Bataan
Maj. Hasko
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Robert Hung
Road to Morocco
Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Saloon Manager (uncredited)
So Proudly We Hail
Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
The Steel Helmet
Sergeant Tanaka
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
Master Sun
Destroyer
Japanese Submarine Commander
The Good Earth
Farmer (uncredited)
Soldier of Fortune
Gen. Po Lin
Across the Pacific
First Officer Miyuma
Star Spangled Rhythm
Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
Living It Up
Dr. Lee
The Bamboo Prison
Commandant Hsai Tung
Hell and High Water
Hakada Fujimori
The Shanghai Story
Officer
Battle Hymn
Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
State Department: File 649
Marshal Yun Usu
The Clay Pigeon
Ken Tokoyama
To the Ends of the Earth
Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
House of Bamboo
Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
God Is My Co-Pilot
Tokyo Joe
Prison Ship
Capt. Okisawa
China Seas
Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
Now and Forever
Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Rogues' Regiment
Kao Pang
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Destination Gobi
Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp
The Falcon Strikes Back
Jerry
Chandler
Leo
Flight for Freedom
Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
Chiang-Kai-Shek
The Fatal Hour
Jeweler
Malaya
Colonel Genichi Tomura
Seven Were Saved
Colonel Yamura
Confessions of an Opium Eater
George Wah
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Kenji Yamashita
Target Hong Kong
Fu Chao
5 Fingers
Stranded
Chinese Groom (uncredited)
Panama Patrol
Tommy Young
Barricade
Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
Web of Danger
Wing
Miracles for Sale
Chinese Soldier in Demo
Diamond Head
I Was an American Spy
Col. Masamato
China Sky
Col. Yasuda
Betrayal from the East
Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
Tokyo Rose
Colonel Suzuki
The Purple Heart
General Ito Mitsubi
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Tong Chief
North of Shanghai
Jed's Pilot
Doomed to Die
Tong Leader
The Secrets of Wu Sin
Charlie San
First Yank into Tokyo
Col. Hideko Okanura
Half Past Midnight
Lee Gow
Student Tour
Geisha's Customer
Blondes at Work
Sam Wong (uncredited)
Mad Holiday
Li Yat (uncredited)
The Soldier and the Lady
Tartar (Uncredited)
Behind the Rising Sun
Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
China
Lin Yun
West of Shanghai
Mr. Cheng
Island of Lost Men
General Ahn Ling
China Venture
Chang Sung
Kung Fu
Women in the Night
Colonel Noyama
Stowaway
Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
The Quiet American
Mr. Heng
Shadows Over Shanghai
Fong
The Conqueror
Captain of Wang's guard
A Girl Named Tamiko
Otani
China's Little Devils
Colonel Huraji
Daughter of the Tong
Wong
Secret of the Wastelands
Quan
Hong Kong Affair
Li Noon
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
The Cobra Strikes
Hyder Ali
Beyond Our Own
James Wong
The Scavengers
Roaming Lady
Chinese Seaman
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest