Acting
116
Man
Oct 1, 1903
Nov 20, 1983 (80)
Maui, Hawaii, USA
—
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]
Year | Movie / TV show / Other | Role |
---|---|---|
2002 | The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller | Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited) |
1977 | The Incredible Hulk | |
1977 | The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries | |
1976 | Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur | Chiang-Kai-Shek |
1974 | The Man with the Golden Gun | Hai Fat |
1973 | Police Story | |
1972 | Kung Fu | |
1972 | Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon | Master Sun |
1971 | One More Train to Rob | Mr. Chang |
1971 | Chandler | Leo |
1970 | McCloud | |
1969 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Kenji Yamashita |
1968 | Hawaii Five-O | Wong Tou |
1968 | The Dick Cavett Show | Self - Guest |
1966 | The Sand Pebbles | Major Chin |
1966 | Family Affair | |
1965 | I Dream of Jeannie | Wong |
1965 | The Wild Wild West | |
1965 | Honey West | Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief |
1964 | Bewitched | |
1963 | The Outer Limits | Li-Chin Sung |
1963 | Burke's Law | Grass Slipper |
1963 | The Dakotas | |
1962 | Confessions of an Opium Eater | George Wah |
1962 | Diamond Head | |
1962 | A Girl Named Tamiko | Otani |
1962 | The Beachcomber | Ah Wei |
1960 | My Three Sons | |
1960 | Hong Kong | Leo |
1959 | The Scavengers | |
1958 | The Quiet American | Mr. Heng |
1958 | Hong Kong Affair | Li Noon |
1957 | Perry Mason | Mr. Eng |
1957 | Maverick | |
1957 | Battle Hymn | Gen. Kim (scenes deleted) |
1956 | Around the World in Eighty Days | Saloon Manager (uncredited) |
1956 | The Conqueror | Captain of Wang's guard |
1956 | Man Called X | |
1955 | Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing | Robert Hung |
1955 | House of Bamboo | Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited) |
1955 | Soldier of Fortune | Gen. Po Lin |
1955 | Navy Log | |
1954 | Hell and High Water | Hakada Fujimori |
1954 | Living It Up | Dr. Lee |
1954 | The Shanghai Story | Officer |
1954 | The Bamboo Prison | Commandant Hsai Tung |
1954 | December Bride | |
1953 | Destination Gobi | Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp (uncredited) |
1953 | Target Hong Kong | Fu Chao |
1953 | China Venture | Chang Sung |
1952 | 5 Fingers | |
1952 | Four Star Playhouse | Jo-Kai |
1952 | Cavalcade of America | |
1952 | Cavalcade of America | Ho Chung |
1951 | The Steel Helmet | Sergeant Tanaka |
1951 | I Was an American Spy | Col. Masamato |
1950 | The Colgate Comedy Hour | Self |
1949 | The Clay Pigeon | Ken Tokoyama |
1949 | Malaya | Colonel Genichi Tomura |
1949 | State Department: File 649 | Marshal Yun Usu |
1948 | To the Ends of the Earth | Commissioner Lu (uncredited) |
1948 | Studio One | |
1948 | Women in the Night | Colonel Noyama |
1948 | Rogues' Regiment | Kao Pang |
1948 | The Cobra Strikes | Hyder Ali |
1948 | Half Past Midnight | Lee Gow |
1947 | Seven Were Saved | Colonel Yamura |
1947 | Web of Danger | Wing |
1947 | Beyond Our Own | James Wong |
1946 | Tokyo Rose | Colonel Suzuki |
1945 | Back to Bataan | Maj. Hasko |
1945 | God Is My Co-Pilot | Tokyo Joe |
1945 | First Yank into Tokyo | Col. Hideko Okanura |
1945 | Betrayal from the East | Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani |
1945 | China Sky | Col. Yasuda |
1945 | Prison Ship | Capt. Okisawa |
1945 | China's Little Devils | Colonel Huraji |
1944 | The Keys of the Kingdom | Lt. Shon |
1944 | The Story of Dr. Wassell | Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited) |
1944 | The Purple Heart | General Ito Mitsubi |
1943 | So Proudly We Hail | Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited) |
1943 | Destroyer | Japanese Submarine Commander |
1943 | The Falcon Strikes Back | Jerry |
1943 | China | Lin Yun |
1943 | The Amazing Mrs. Holliday | |
1943 | Flight for Freedom | Mr. Yokahata (uncredited) |
1943 | Behind the Rising Sun | Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium |
1942 | Across the Pacific | First Officer Miyuma |
1942 | Road to Morocco | Chinese Announcer (uncredited) |
1942 | Wake Island | |
1942 | Star Spangled Rhythm | Emperor Hirohito (uncredited) |
1941 | Secret of the Wastelands | Quan |
1940 | Doomed to Die | Tong Leader |
1940 | The Fatal Hour | Jeweler |
1939 | Mr. Wong in Chinatown | Tong Chief |
1939 | Miracles for Sale | Chinese Soldier in Demo |
1939 | Lady of the Tropics | Delaroch's Chauffeur |
1939 | Daughter of the Tong | Wong |
1939 | Barricade | Colonel Commander of Rescue Party |
1939 | Panama Patrol | Tommy Young |
1939 | North of Shanghai | Jed's Pilot |
1938 | Blondes at Work | Sam Wong (uncredited) |
1938 | Shadows Over Shanghai | Fong |
1937 | Lost Horizon | Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited) |
1937 | The Good Earth | Farmer (uncredited) |
1937 | West of Shanghai | Mr. Cheng |
1937 | The Soldier and the Lady | Tartar (Uncredited) |
1936 | Stowaway | Chinese Merchant (uncredited) |
1936 | Mad Holiday | Li Yat (uncredited) |
1936 | Roaming Lady | Chinese Seaman |
1935 | China Seas | Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited) |
1935 | Stranded | Chinese Groom (uncredited) |
1934 | Now and Forever | Hotel Clerk (uncredited) |
1934 | Student Tour | Geisha's Customer |
1933 | The Bitter Tea of General Yen | Captain Li |
1932 | The Secrets of Wu Sin | Charlie San |