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