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Richard Loo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Loo
Born(1903-10-01)October 1, 1903
Maui, Territory of Hawaii
DiedNovember 20, 1983(1983-11-20) (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place
San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Los Angeles, California
Alma materUniversity of California at Berkeley
OccupationActor
Years active1931–1982
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1929; div. 1960)​
Hope Loo
​
(m. 1964)​
Signature

Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American actor. He was one of the most familiar Asian American actors in during the Golden Age of Hollywood, appearing in numerous films of the 1930s through the 1950s. Though of Chinese ancestry, he often portrayed villainous Imperial Japanese military officers during the Second World War. Later in his career, he was active mainly on television.

Early life

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Loo was born in Maui, Hawaii in 1903. He was a third-generation Chinese American, of Hakka ancestry. After spending his youth in Hawaii, he moved to California as a teenager. He studied business at the University of California at Berkeley, and upon graduating he opened a successful import-export company in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression prematurely ended his business career.

Loo became involved in amateur theatre productions in San Francisco, and later took up drama classes at Pearl S. Buck’s East and West Association in Chinatown. After turning professional, he moved to Hollywood and made his film debut in 1931.

Career

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Like most East Asian actors in Hollywood, Loo typically played small, stereotypical roles, though he rose quickly to familiarity, if not fame, in a number of films. One of his earliest prominent roles was as a treacherous antagonist in the 1933 pre-Code film The Bitter Tea of General Yen, directed by Frank Capra. However, the lack of strong roles for minority actors in Hollywood meant that he was largely relegated to minor parts (many uncredited) until the outbreak of World War II.

Loo in The Purple Heart (1944)

Loo’s stern features, sly grin, and sharp voice led him to be a favorite movie villain, and US entry into the war (along with the internment of any actual Japanese actors) 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). In The Purple Heart, he plays a Japanese Imperial Army general who commits suicide because he cannot break down the American prisoners.[1] According to his daughter, Beverly Jane Loo, the actor (who had been deferred from military service due to health issues) didn't mind being typecast as a villain in these movies as he felt very patriotic about playing those parts.[2] In many of these films, he appeared alongside the Korean American actor and activist Philip Ahn.

Loo and Philip Ahn in Women in the Night

He was also considered an "atmosphere" player along with Spencer Chan, Willie Fung and Frank Chew.[3]

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. He also appeared in the Broadway plays South Pacific and The Teahouse of the August Moon.[4]

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 the following year.

Personal life

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Loo's first wife, Bessie Sue, was a well-known Hollywood agent. They had twin daughters Angela Marie Loo[5] and Beverly Jane Loo.[6] Beverly Loo was prominent in publishing, while Angela Loo Levy was a Hollywood agent and accomplished ski patroller. He later remarried to his second wife, Hope.[7] He had a stepdaughter, Christel Hope Mintz.

Death

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Loo died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 20, 1983.

Filmography

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Film

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Television

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  • Summer Theater 1 episode (Foo Young) (1953)
  • Fireside Theater 2 episodes (I Cover Korea) (1953) (Major Chang in The Traitor) (1953)
  • December Bride 1 episode (The Chinese Dinner) (1954) as Client
  • My Little Margie 1 episode (San Francisco Story) (1954) as Mr. Tang
  • Cavalcade of America 2 episodes (Ordeal in Burma) (1954) (Ho Chung in Diplomatic Outpost) (1956)
  • TV Reader's Digest 2 episodes (Officer in The Brainwashing of John Hayes) (1955) (Lew Gar Mun in The Smuggler) (1956)
  • Navy Log 1 episode (Dr. Van) (1956) as General Hashimoto
  • Crossroads 1 episode (Calvary in China) (1956) as Colonel
  • The Man Called X 1 episode (Assassination) (1956)
  • Four Star Playhouse 1 episode (Wall of Bamboo) (1956) as Jo-Kai
  • Tombstone Territory 1 episode (Tong War) (1958) as Quong Key
  • Hong Kong 2 episodes (Low in The Jade Empress) (1960) (Thug in Suitable for Framing) (1961)
  • Maverick 1 episode (The Golden Fleecing) (1961) as Lee Hong Chang
  • Follow the Sun 1 episode (The Woman Who Never Was) (1961) as District Attorney
  • Bonanza 1 episode (Day of the Dragon) (1961) as General Mu Tsung
  • The Beachcomber 1 episode (Charlie Six Kids) (1962) as Ah Wei
  • Hawaiian Eye 1 episode (Two Too Many) (1963) as C.K. Yang
  • The Dakotas 1 episode (The Chooser of the Slain) (1963) as George Yang
  • The Outer Limits 1 episode (The Hundred Days of the Dragon) (1963) as Li-Chin Sung
  • Wagon Train 1 episode (The Widow O'Rourke Story) (1963) as Liu Yang
  • Perry Mason 1 episode (The Case of the Floating Stones) (1963) as Mr. Eng
  • I Spy 1 episode (So Long, Patrick Henry) (1965) as Mr. Tsung
  • Honey West 1 episode (The Owl and the Eye) (1965) as Tog-Chinese fine arts thief
  • Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 1 episode (Timebomb) (1965) as Li Tung
  • Burke's Law 1 episode (Deadlier Than the Male) (1965) as Grass Slipper
  • The Wackiest Ship in the Army 2 episodes (Admiral Osuma in The Lamb Who Hunted Wolves: Parts I & II) (1966)
  • The Wild Wild West 1 episode (The Night the Dragon Screamed) (1966) as Wang Chung
  • I Dream of Jeannie 1 episode (Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper) (1966) as Wong
  • The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 1 episode (The Indian Affairs Affair) (1966) as Dr. Yahama
  • Family Affair 1 episode (The Mother Tongue) (1967) as Mr. Chen
  • My Three Sons 1 episode (Weekend in Paradise) (1967) as Mr. Chang
  • Hawaii Five-O 1 episode (Twenty-Four Karat Kill) (1968) as Wong Tou
  • It Takes a Thief 3 episodes (Clown in A Case of Red Turnips) (1968) (Dr. Langpoor in Payoff in the Piazza) (1969) (Wong in Project X) (1970)
  • Marcus Welby, M.D. 1 episode (A Matter of Humanities) (1969) as Kenji Yamashita
  • Here Comes the Brides 1 episode (Marriage, Chinese Style) (1969) as Chi Pei
  • Bewitched 1 episode (Samantha's Better Halves) (1970) as Mr. Tanaka
  • The Sixth Sense 1 episode (With This Ring, I Thee Kill) (1972) as Matsuo
  • The Delphi Bureau 1 episode (The Deadly Little Errand) (1972) as Shen Si
  • Kung Fu 6 episodes (Master Sun in Pilot (1972) Blood Brother (1973) Besieged: Cannon at the Gates (1974)) (Chen in The Tong) (1973) (Wu Chang in Arrogant Dragon) (1974) (Ho Fai, the weapons master in The Devil's Champion) (1974)
  • Ironside 1 episode (In the Forests of the Night) (1973) as Lin Chu Tai
  • McCloud 1 episode (The Solid Gold Swingers) (1973) as Y.S. Chen (uncredited)
  • Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law 1 episode (The Attacker) (1974) as Tanaka
  • Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur TV movie (1976) as Chiang-Kai-Shek
  • The Quest 1 episode (Welcome to America, Jade Snow) (1976) as Dr. Li Po
  • Police Story 1 episode (The Blue Fog) (1977) as Eddie Lee
  • The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries 1 episode (The Secret of the Jade Kwan Yin) (1977) as Chen Lee
  • The Incredible Hulk 1 episode (East Winds) (1981) as Kam Chong (final appearance)

Note: Loo twice appeared as a talk-show guest—with Johnny Carson in 1969 and Dick Cavett in 1971. The latter, who loved to do an impression of Loo specifically, asked him about his career, including being of Chinese ancestry yet playing Japanese soldiers in WWII films (Loo said he didn't mind; work was work) and the different ways Chinese and Japanese spoke English.

References

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  1. ↑ Milberg, Doris. (2010). World War II on the big screen : 450+ films, 1938-2008. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-5574-4. OCLC 607553739.
  2. ↑ "Obituary: RICHARD LOO, ACTOR 5 DECADES". The New York Times. November 22, 1983. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ Slide, Anthony (2012). Hollywood unknowns : a history of extras, bit players, and stand-ins. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-61703-475-6. OCLC 777251346.
  4. ↑ "Richard Loo". Internet Broadway Database.
  5. ↑ "Angela Marie Loo, Born 06/28/1931 in California - CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". Californiabirthindex.org. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Beverly Jane Loo was born on June 28, 1931 in Los Angeles County, California. Her father's last name is Loo, and her mother's maiden name is Sue. If Beverly is still alive, she's now eighty-six years old. Her potential siblings include Angela (born 1931)". californiabirthindex.org. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  7. ↑ Devine, Elizabeth (November 1984). Annual Obituary 1983. St. James. p. 552. ISBN 978-0-912289-07-6. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
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