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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
October 1, 1903
Died
November 20, 1983
Place of Birth
Maui, Hawaii, USA
Richard Loo
1.1 Popularity
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]
Known For
5.8
Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
5.3
Master Sun
Kung Fu: The Movie
1986
7.2
The Incredible Hulk
1977
7.1
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
1977
4.0
Chiang-Kai-Shek
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
1976
6.5
Hai Fat
The Man with the Golden Gun
1974
6.9
Police Story
1973
7.7
Master Sun
Kung Fu
1972
7.7
Ho Fai, The Weapons Master
Kung Fu
1972
0.0
Shen Si
Delphi Bureau
1972
Credits
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
2002
5.8
Kung Fu: The Movie
as Master Sun
1986
5.3
The Incredible Hulk
1977
7.2
The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
1977
7.1
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
as Chiang-Kai-Shek
1976
4.0
The Man with the Golden Gun
as Hai Fat
1974
6.5
Police Story
1973
6.9
Kung Fu
as Master Sun
1972
7.7
Kung Fu
as Ho Fai, The Weapons Master
1972
7.7
Delphi Bureau
as Shen Si
1972
0.0
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
as Master Sun
1972
7.1
Chandler
as Leo
1971
4.3
One More Train to Rob
as Mr. Chang
1971
5.4
McCloud
as Y.S. Chen (uncredited)
1970
7.1
Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
as Kenji Yamashita
1969
0.0
Hawaii Five-O
as Wong Tou
1968
7.1
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
1968
6.8
The Sand Pebbles
as Major Chin
1966
7.2
Family Affair
1966
6.7
I Dream of Jeannie
as Wong
1965
7.8
The Wild Wild West
1965
7.6
Honey West
as Tog - Chinese Fine Arts Thief
1965
7.0
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
as Dr. Yahama
1964
7.1
Bewitched
1964
7.9
Burke's Law
as Grass Slipper
1963
6.0
The Outer Limits
as Li-Chin Sung
1963
7.8
The Dakotas
1963
5.7
Diamond Head
as Yamagata (uncredited)
1962
5.4
A Girl Named Tamiko
as Otani
1962
5.0
Confessions of an Opium Eater
as George Wah
1962
5.5
🎬
The Beachcomber
as Ah Wei
1962
0.0
My Three Sons
1960
6.5
Hong Kong
as Leo
1960
0.0
The Scavengers
1959
5.0
Hong Kong Affair
as Li Noon
1958
0.0
The Quiet American
as Mr. Heng
1958
5.7
Maverick
1957
6.9
Perry Mason
as Mr. Eng
1957
7.7
Battle Hymn
as Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
1957
6.5
Around the World in 80 Days
as Saloon Manager (uncredited)
1956
6.6
The Conqueror
as Captain of Wang's guard
1956
3.5
The Man Called X
1956
0.0
🎬
Navy Log
1955
4.5
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
as Robert Hung
1955
6.0
House of Bamboo
as Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
1955
6.1
Soldier of Fortune
as Gen. Po Lin
1955
5.9
December Bride
1954
5.5
The Shanghai Story
as Officer
1954
4.8
Living It Up
as Dr. Lee
1954
6.4
The Bamboo Prison
as Commandant Hsai Tung
1954
6.4
Hell and High Water
as Hakada Fujimori
1954
6.1
China Venture
as Chang Sung
1953
7.3
Destination Gobi
as Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp
1953
5.8
Target Hong Kong
as Fu Chao
1953
5.3
Cavalcade of America
1952
3.5
Cavalcade of America
as Ho Chung
1952
3.5
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Jo-Kai
1952
6.7
5 Fingers
1952
7.5
I Was an American Spy
as Col. Masamato
1951
6.2
The Steel Helmet
as Sergeant Tanaka
1951
7.0
The Colgate Comedy Hour
as Self
1950
6.8
Malaya
as Colonel Genichi Tomura
1949
6.5
The Clay Pigeon
as Ken Tokoyama
1949
5.5
State Department: File 649
as Marshal Yun Usu
1949
4.3
Rogues' Regiment
as Kao Pang
1948
6.5
Studio One
1948
5.0
The Cobra Strikes
as Hyder Ali
1948
5.0
Half Past Midnight
as Lee Gow
1948
6.0
To the Ends of the Earth
as Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
1948
5.7
Women in the Night
as Colonel Noyama
1948
3.5
Beyond Our Own
as James Wong
1947
0.0
Web of Danger
as Wing
1947
4.8
Seven Were Saved
as Colonel Yamura
1947
6.1
Tokyo Rose
as Colonel Suzuki
1946
5.0
Prison Ship
as Capt. Okisawa
1945
6.0
First Yank into Tokyo
as Col. Hideko Okanura
1945
5.4
Back to Bataan
as Maj. Hasko
1945
6.0
China's Little Devils
as Colonel Huraji
1945
4.0
China Sky
as Col. Yasuda
1945
4.6
Betrayal from the East
as Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
1945
5.8
God Is My Co-Pilot
as Tokyo Joe
1945
6.9
The Keys of the Kingdom
as Lt. Shon
1944
7.0
The Story of Dr. Wassell
as Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
1944
6.3
The Purple Heart
as General Ito Mitsubi
1944
6.0
So Proudly We Hail
as Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
1943
5.5
Destroyer
as Japanese Submarine Commander
1943
6.6
Behind the Rising Sun
as Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
1943
5.7
China
as Lin Yun
1943
6.8
Flight for Freedom
as Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
1943
5.4
The Falcon Strikes Back
as Jerry
1943
5.5
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
1943
6.7
Road to Morocco
as Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
1942
6.9
Across the Pacific
as First Officer Miyuma
1942
6.6
Wake Island
1942
5.8
Star Spangled Rhythm
as Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
1942
6.0
Secret of the Wastelands
as Quan
1941
4.0
Doomed to Die
as Tong Leader
1940
5.5
The Fatal Hour
as Jeweler
1940
5.6
Barricade
as Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
1939
5.3
Daughter of the Tong
as Wong
1939
4.2
Island of Lost Men
as General Ahn Ling
1939
5.7
Lady of the Tropics
as Delaroch's Chauffeur
1939
6.1
Miracles for Sale
as Chinese Soldier in Demo
1939
6.4
Mr. Wong in Chinatown
as Tong Chief
1939
5.3
Panama Patrol
as Tommy Young
1939
5.0
North of Shanghai
as Jed's Pilot
1939
0.0
Shadows Over Shanghai
as Fong
1938
4.8
Too Hot to Handle
as Charlie (uncredited)
1938
5.8
Blondes at Work
as Sam Wong (uncredited)
1938
6.1
West of Shanghai
as Mr. Cheng
1937
5.4
That Certain Woman
as Elevator Operator (uncredited)
1937
5.4
The Good Earth
as Farmer (uncredited)
1937
6.2
The Soldier and the Lady
as Tartar (Uncredited)
1937
6.5
Lost Horizon
as Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
1937
7.0
Stowaway
as Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
1936
6.7
Mad Holiday
as Li Yat (uncredited)
1936
6.0
Roaming Lady
as Chinese Seaman
1936
5.0
China Seas
as Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
1935
6.1
Stranded
as Chinese Groom (uncredited)
1935
5.8
Student Tour
as Geisha's Customer
1934
5.0
Now and Forever
as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
1934
6.6
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
as Captain Li
1932
6.2
The Secrets of Wu Sin
as Charlie San
1932
6.0