Richard Loo
Acting • Born 1903-10-01 – Died 1983-11-20
Biography
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]
Filmography
125 credits
The Man with the Golden Gun
Movie • 1974
Hai Fat
The Sand Pebbles
Movie • 1966
Major Chin
Women in the Night
Movie • 1948
Colonel Noyama
Hell and High Water
Movie • 1954
Hakada Fujimori
North of Shanghai
Movie • 1939
Jed's Pilot
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Movie • 1932
Captain Li
The Clay Pigeon
Movie • 1949
Ken Tokoyama
The Purple Heart
Movie • 1944
General Ito Mitsubi
Betrayal from the East
Movie • 1945
Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
Malaya
Movie • 1949
Colonel Genichi Tomura
The Falcon Strikes Back
Movie • 1943
Jerry
The Good Earth
Movie • 1937
Farmer (uncredited)
The Steel Helmet
Movie • 1951
Sergeant Tanaka
The Keys of the Kingdom
Movie • 1944
Lt. Shon
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Movie • 1943
Back to Bataan
Movie • 1945
Maj. Hasko
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Movie • 1955
Robert Hung
I Was an American Spy
Movie • 1951
Col. Masamato
Battle Hymn
Movie • 1957
Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Movie • 2002
Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
Target Hong Kong
Movie • 1953
Fu Chao
The Quiet American
Movie • 1958
Mr. Heng
The Fatal Hour
Movie • 1940
Jeweler
Confessions of an Opium Eater
Movie • 1962
George Wah
Chandler
Movie • 1971
Leo
First Yank into Tokyo
Movie • 1945
Col. Hideko Okanura
Lost Horizon
Movie • 1937
Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
The Scavengers
Movie • 1959
Star Spangled Rhythm
Movie • 1942
Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
To the Ends of the Earth
Movie • 1948
Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
One More Train to Rob
Movie • 1971
Mr. Chang
Seven Were Saved
Movie • 1947
Colonel Yamura
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
Movie • 1976
Chiang-Kai-Shek
Flight for Freedom
Movie • 1943
Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
China
Movie • 1943
Lin Yun
A Girl Named Tamiko
Movie • 1962
Otani
The Bamboo Prison
Movie • 1954
Commandant Hsai Tung
West of Shanghai
Movie • 1937
Mr. Cheng
The Shanghai Story
Movie • 1954
Officer
Daughter of the Tong
Movie • 1939
Wong
Diamond Head
Movie • 1962
Yamagata (uncredited)
Panama Patrol
Movie • 1939
Tommy Young
Across the Pacific
Movie • 1942
First Officer Miyuma
Shadows Over Shanghai
Movie • 1938
Fong
The Secrets of Wu Sin
Movie • 1932
Charlie San
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
Movie • 1969
Kenji Yamashita
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
Movie • 1972
Master Sun
State Department: File 649
Movie • 1949
Marshal Yun Usu
China Seas
Movie • 1935
Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
House of Bamboo
Movie • 1955
Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
Web of Danger
Movie • 1947
Wing
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
Movie • 1939
Tong Chief
Miracles for Sale
Movie • 1939
Chinese Soldier in Demo
Lady of the Tropics
Movie • 1939
Delaroch's Chauffeur
Now and Forever
Movie • 1934
Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
5 Fingers
Movie • 1952
Wake Island
Movie • 1942
Prison Ship
Movie • 1945
Capt. Okisawa
Tokyo Rose
Movie • 1946
Colonel Suzuki
Doomed to Die
Movie • 1940
Tong Leader
Rogues' Regiment
Movie • 1948
Kao Pang
Secret of the Wastelands
Movie • 1941
Quan
Student Tour
Movie • 1934
Geisha's Customer
Barricade
Movie • 1939
Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Movie • 1944
Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie • 1956
Saloon Manager (uncredited)
China Sky
Movie • 1945
Col. Yasuda
Destination Gobi
Movie • 1953
Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp
The Soldier and the Lady
Movie • 1937
Tartar (Uncredited)
The Cobra Strikes
Movie • 1948
Hyder Ali
The Conqueror
Movie • 1956
Captain of Wang's guard
Stowaway
Movie • 1936
Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
Stranded
Movie • 1935
Chinese Groom (uncredited)
Living It Up
Movie • 1954
Dr. Lee
Behind the Rising Sun
Movie • 1943
Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
Blondes at Work
Movie • 1938
Sam Wong (uncredited)
Destroyer
Movie • 1943
Japanese Submarine Commander
So Proudly We Hail
Movie • 1943
Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
Roaming Lady
Movie • 1936
Chinese Seaman
Half Past Midnight
Movie • 1948
Lee Gow
Road to Morocco
Movie • 1942
Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
China's Little Devils
Movie • 1945
Colonel Huraji
God Is My Co-Pilot
Movie • 1945
Tokyo Joe
Mad Holiday
Movie • 1936
Li Yat (uncredited)
Hong Kong Affair
Movie • 1958
Li Noon
Soldier of Fortune
Movie • 1955
Gen. Po Lin
Beyond Our Own
Movie • 1947
James Wong
China Venture
Movie • 1953
Chang Sung
Island of Lost Men
Movie • 1939
General Ahn Ling
Kung Fu: The Movie
Movie • 1986
Master Sun
Too Hot to Handle
Movie • 1938
Charlie (uncredited)
That Certain Woman
Movie • 1937
Elevator Operator (uncredited)
War Correspondent
Movie • 1932
Bandit (uncredited)
Yanks Ahoy
Movie • 1943
Japanese Submarine Officer (uncredited)
Family Affair
TV • 1966
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Grass Slipper
December Bride
TV • 1954
The Incredible Hulk
TV • 1977
The Colgate Comedy Hour
TV • 1950
Self
Kung Fu
TV • 1972
Master Sun
My Three Sons
TV • 1960
I Dream of Jeannie
TV • 1965
Wong
Hawaii Five-O
TV • 1968
Wong Tou
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
TV • 1977
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Mr. Eng
Studio One
TV • 1948
Bewitched
TV • 1964
The Beachcomber
TV • 1962
Ah Wei
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
Police Story
TV • 1973
Navy Log
TV • 1955
The Dakotas
TV • 1963
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Honey West
TV • 1965
Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief
The Outer Limits
TV • 1963
Li-Chin Sung
The Man Called X
TV • 1956
Maverick
TV • 1957
Hong Kong
TV • 1960
Leo
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
Ho Chung
Four Star Playhouse
TV • 1952
Jo-Kai
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
Kung Fu
TV • 1972
Ho Fai, The Weapons Master
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
TV • 1964
Dr. Yahama
Delphi Bureau
TV • 1972
Shen Si
McCloud
TV • 1970
Y.S. Chen (uncredited)