Philip Ahn

Acting • Born 1905-03-29 – Died 1978-02-28

Acting1Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Philip Ahn (born Pil Lip Ahn (안필립), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a Korean American actor. He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ahn's first film was A Scream in the Night in 1935. He appeared in the Bing Crosby film Anything Goes, though director Lewis Milestone had initially rejected him because his English was too good for the part. His first credited roles came in 1936 in The General Died at Dawn and Stowaway, opposite Shirley Temple. He starred opposite Anna May Wong in Daughter of Shanghai (1937) and King of Chinatown (1937). During World War II, Ahn often played Japanese villains in war films. Mistakenly thought to be Japanese, he received several death threats. He enlisted in the United States Army, having served in the Special Services as an entertainer. He was discharged early because of an injured ankle and returned to making films. Ahn appeared in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Around the World in Eighty Days, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Paradise, Hawaiian Style, with Elvis Presley. He got to play Korean characters in Korean War movies such as Battle Circus (1953) and Battle Hymn (1956). In 1952, Ahn made his television debut on the Schlitz Playhouse, a series he would make three additional appearances on. Ahn would also be cast in four episodes of ABC's Adventures in Paradise, four episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers crime drama Hawaiian Eye, and the CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-O. He made three appearances each on Crossroads, Bonanza, and M*A*S*H. He would also appear in two television movies. Ahn's most notable television role was as "Master Kan" on the television series Kung Fu. A Presbyterian, Ahn felt that the Taoist homilies his character quoted did not contradict his own religious faith.

Filmography

171 credits

Shock Corridor

Movie • 1963

Dr. Fong

The Karate Killers

Movie • 1967

Sazami Kyushu

Women in the Night

Movie • 1948

Professor Kunioshi

Impact

Movie • 1949

Ah Sing

Macao

Movie • 1952

Itzumi

North of Shanghai

Movie • 1939

Chinese Doctor

Charlie Chan in Honolulu

Movie • 1938

Wing Foo

Stowaway

Movie • 1936

Sun Lo

Hell's Half Acre

Movie • 1954

Roger Kong

Across the Pacific

Movie • 1942

Man in Theatre (uncredited)

Betrayal from the East

Movie • 1945

Kato

Battle Zone

Movie • 1952

South Korean Guerrilla Leader

The Left Hand of God

Movie • 1955

Jan Teng

Halls of Montezuma

Movie • 1951

Maj. Kenji Matsuoda (aka "Nomura")

Jump Into Hell

Movie • 1955

Chinese POW Lieutenant

Intrigue

Movie • 1947

Louie Chin

The Keys of the Kingdom

Movie • 1944

Mr. Pao, Envoy for Mr. Chia

Tex Rides with the Boy Scouts

Movie • 1937

Sing Fung, Laundry Man

Japanese War Bride

Movie • 1952

Eitaro Shimizu

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

Movie • 1943

Back to Bataan

Movie • 1945

Col. Coroki

China Girl

Movie • 1942

Kai Young

The Chinese Ring

Movie • 1947

Captain Kong

The Killer Who Wouldn't Die

Movie • 1976

Soong

Target Hong Kong

Movie • 1953

Sin How

Thank You, Mr. Moto

Movie • 1937

Prince Chung

Confessions of an Opium Eater

Movie • 1962

Ching Foon

Daughter of Shanghai

Movie • 1937

Kim Lee

A Yank on the Burma Road

Movie • 1942

Franklin Ling

Dragon Seed

Movie • 1944

Leader of City People (uncredited)

God Is My Co-Pilot

Movie • 1945

Hong Kong Radio Announcer (uncredited)

Hong Kong Confidential

Movie • 1958

Tan Chung

China

Movie • 1943

Lin Cho

China Passage

Movie • 1937

Fang Tu

A Girl Named Tamiko

Movie • 1962

Akiba

The Way to the Gold

Movie • 1957

Mr. Ding - cafe owner

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Movie • 1966

Moki Kaimana

The Sex Serum of Dr. Blake

Movie • 1970

Mao Tse Tung (uncredited)

The Shanghai Story

Movie • 1954

Major Ling Wu

Singapore

Movie • 1947

Jimmy - Bartender (uncredited)

The Big Hangover

Movie • 1950

Dr. Lee

Red Barry

Movie • 1938

Hong Kong Cholly

Forever Yours

Movie • 1945

Chinese Man (uncredited)

Barricade

Movie • 1939

Col. Wai Kang

Panama Patrol

Movie • 1939

Sun

The Creeper

Movie • 1948

Ah Wong - Restaurant Owner

Hawaii Calls

Movie • 1938

Julius

Disputed Passage

Movie • 1939

Dr. Fung

The Purple Heart

Movie • 1944

Saburo Goto (uncredited)

King of Chinatown

Movie • 1939

Robert 'Bob' Li

The Sickle or the Cross

Movie • 1949

Chinese Official

Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon

Movie • 1972

Master Kan

Cocoon

Movie • 1968

Attorney General

Fair Wind to Java

Movie • 1953

Gusti

The Great Impostor

Movie • 1960

Capt. Hun Kim

Never So Few

Movie • 1959

Nautaung, leader of the Kachin

Shanghai

Movie • 1935

Servant

Desirable

Movie • 1934

Chinese Waiter

They Met in Bombay

Movie • 1941

Japanese officer (uncredited)

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Movie • 1967

Tea

Diamond Head

Movie • 1962

Mr. Immacona

Drums of Fu Manchu

Movie • 1940

Dr. Chang

Klondike Annie

Movie • 1936

The Tuttles of Tahiti

Movie • 1942

Emily's Servant (uncredited)

The Miracle of the Bells

Movie • 1948

Ming Gow

The Shadow

Movie • 1940

Wu Yung

Something to Sing About

Movie • 1937

Ito (Terry's servant)

Rogues' Regiment

Movie • 1948

Tran Duy Gian

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Movie • 1973

Chang (voice)

Secrets of Monte Carlo

Movie • 1951

Wong

The Story of Dr. Wassell

Movie • 1944

Ping

The World's Greatest Athlete

Movie • 1973

Old Chinaman

Battle Hymn

Movie • 1957

Old Man

Around the World in 80 Days

Movie • 1956

Hong Kong Citizen (uncredited)

China Sky

Movie • 1945

Dr. Kim

Red Snow

Movie • 1952

Taglu, a spy

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Movie • 1955

Third Uncle

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack

Movie • 1943

Wu Tan

Submarine Raider

Movie • 1942

First Officer Kawakami

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

Movie • 1949

Wong Chung Shee

Yesterday's Enemy

Movie • 1959

Yamazuki

Roaring Timber

Movie • 1937

Crooner

I Was an American Spy

Movie • 1951

Capt. Arito

The Cobra Strikes

Movie • 1948

Kasim--Houseboy

The General Died at Dawn

Movie • 1936

Oxford

Let's Get Tough

Movie • 1942

Joe Matsui

Don Winslow of the Coast Guard

Movie • 1943

Hirota

Around the World

Movie • 1943

Foo

Behind the Rising Sun

Movie • 1943

Japanese Officer Murdering Takahashi

December 7th

Movie • 1943

Shinto Priest (uncredited)

State Department: File 649

Movie • 1949

Col. Aram

China's Little Devils

Movie • 1945

Farmer

The Good Earth

Movie • 1937

Captain (uncredited)

China Corsair

Movie • 1951

Wong San

His Majesty O'Keefe

Movie • 1954

Sien Tang, Dentist

Ship Ahoy

Movie • 1942

Koro Sumo

One-Eyed Jacks

Movie • 1961

Uncle

A Scream in the Night

Movie • 1935

Wu Ting (as Philip Ann)

They Were Expendable

Movie • 1945

Army Orderly (uncredited)

China Venture

Movie • 1953

Adm. Amara

Judgment: The Court Martial of the Tiger of Malaya — General Yamashita

Movie • 1974

General Yamashita

Island of Lost Men

Movie • 1939

Dragon by the Tail

Movie • 1961

Lee Chin

The Man from Down Under

Movie • 1943

English-Speaking Japanese Aviator (uncredited)

Saigon

Movie • 1947

Boss Merchant (uncredited)

Blood on the Sun

Movie • 1945

Secret Police Capt. Yomamoto (uncredited)

Kung Fu: The Movie

Movie • 1986

Master Kan

The Time Tunnel

TV • 1966

Dr. Nakamura

MAS*H

TV • 1972

Kung Fu

TV • 1972

Master Kan

Hawaii Five-O

TV • 1968

Attorney General

Checkmate

TV • 1960

Sanford and Son

TV • 1972

Mannix

TV • 1967

Dragnet

TV • 1951

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

James Wong

Wonder Woman

TV • 1975

Colonel Minh

Hawaiian Eye

TV • 1959

General Electric Theater

TV • 1953

Rahm Sing

Mission: Impossible

TV • 1966

Dr. Liu

The Islanders

TV • 1960

Governor Galli

Ironside

TV • 1967

Laredo

TV • 1965

The Wild Wild West

TV • 1965

Anna and the King

TV • 1972

Have Gun, Will Travel

TV • 1957

Police Woman

TV • 1974

Switch

TV • 1975

Charlie Kuang

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

TV • 1951

One Step Beyond

TV • 1959

Song

Richard Diamond, Private Detective

TV • 1957

Ho-Lung

The Big Valley

TV • 1965

Chen Yu

Adventures in Paradise

TV • 1959

Ling

Pete and Gladys

TV • 1960

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

TV • 1951

Navy Log

TV • 1955

Wanted: Dead or Alive

TV • 1958

Tom Wing

The Rebel

TV • 1959

Quong Lee

Stoney Burke

TV • 1962

It Takes a Thief

TV • 1968

Owner

Tightrope

TV • 1959

Jefferson Drum

TV • 1958

Charles Wong

Telephone Time

TV • 1956

Johnny Midnight

TV • 1960

The Third Man

TV • 1959

Kraft Mystery Theatre

TV • 1961