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