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
Bewitched
Maverick
Hawaii Five-O
Wong Tou
Studio One
The Wild Wild West
The Incredible Hulk
I Dream of Jeannie
Wong
The Outer Limits
Li-Chin Sung
McCloud
Y.S. Chen (uncredited)
My Three Sons
Four Star Playhouse
Jo-Kai
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Dr. Yahama
Burke's Law
Grass Slipper
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
Family Affair
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
Navy Log
Police Story
The Soldier and the Lady
Tartar (Uncredited)
The Conqueror
Captain of Wang's guard
December Bride
Tokyo Rose
Colonel Suzuki
Wake Island
Destination Gobi
Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp
Kung Fu: The Movie
Master Sun
Honey West
Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief
Stranded
Chinese Groom (uncredited)
The Purple Heart
General Ito Mitsubi
The Man with the Golden Gun
Hai Fat
Battle Hymn
Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
Stowaway
Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
God Is My Co-Pilot
Tokyo Joe
Hong Kong Affair
Li Noon
Panama Patrol
Tommy Young
Star Spangled Rhythm
Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
Doomed to Die
Tong Leader
Half Past Midnight
Lee Gow
The Man Called X
Lady of the Tropics
Delaroch's Chauffeur
West of Shanghai
Mr. Cheng
Diamond Head
Yamagata (uncredited)
Chandler
Leo
The Beachcomber
Ah Wei
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
China
Lin Yun
Cavalcade of America
Cavalcade of America
Ho Chung
Malaya
Colonel Genichi Tomura
House of Bamboo
Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Around the World in 80 Days
Saloon Manager (uncredited)
The Dakotas
Living It Up
Dr. Lee
Secret of the Wastelands
Quan
Hong Kong
Leo
So Proudly We Hail
Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
5 Fingers
Delphi Bureau
Shen Si
Lost Horizon
Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
The Sand Pebbles
Major Chin
The Keys of the Kingdom
Lt. Shon
Road to Morocco
Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
China Seas
Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
Soldier of Fortune
Gen. Po Lin
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Robert Hung
Back to Bataan
Maj. Hasko
Across the Pacific
First Officer Miyuma
Kung Fu
Master Sun
Kung Fu
Ho Fai, The Weapons Master
The Good Earth
Farmer (uncredited)
The Quiet American
Mr. Heng
Now and Forever
Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
The Clay Pigeon
Ken Tokoyama
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Captain Li
One More Train to Rob
Mr. Chang
Hell and High Water
Hakada Fujimori
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Tong Chief
The Shanghai Story
Officer
Flight for Freedom
Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
The Steel Helmet
Sergeant Tanaka
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
Barricade
Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
China Sky
Col. Yasuda
I Was an American Spy
Col. Masamato
The Fatal Hour
Jeweler
Too Hot to Handle
Charlie (uncredited)
Destroyer
Japanese Submarine Commander
That Certain Woman
Elevator Operator (uncredited)
A Girl Named Tamiko
Otani
Prison Ship
Capt. Okisawa
State Department: File 649
Marshal Yun Usu
Blondes at Work
Sam Wong (uncredited)
Miracles for Sale
Chinese Soldier in Demo
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Kenji Yamashita
The Bamboo Prison
Commandant Hsai Tung
The Falcon Strikes Back
Jerry
The Scavengers
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
Women in the Night
Colonel Noyama
Betrayal from the East
Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
China Venture
Chang Sung
Shadows Over Shanghai
Fong
Seven Were Saved
Colonel Yamura
Web of Danger
Wing
Student Tour
Geisha's Customer
Island of Lost Men
General Ahn Ling
Confessions of an Opium Eater
George Wah
Behind the Rising Sun
Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
Master Sun
North of Shanghai
Jed's Pilot
Roaming Lady
Chinese Seaman
Rogues' Regiment
Kao Pang
To the Ends of the Earth
Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
Beyond Our Own
James Wong
First Yank into Tokyo
Col. Hideko Okanura
Daughter of the Tong
Wong
Mad Holiday
Li Yat (uncredited)
Target Hong Kong
Fu Chao
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
Chiang-Kai-Shek
China's Little Devils
Colonel Huraji
War Correspondent
Bandit (uncredited)
Yanks Ahoy
Japanese Submarine Officer (uncredited)
The Secrets of Wu Sin
Charlie San
The Cobra Strikes
Hyder Ali
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest