Richard Loo
95 movies · 29 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Oct 1, 1903
- Died
- Nov 20, 1983 (age 80)
- Place of birth
- Maui, Hawaii, USA
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.
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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]
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Richard Loo: movies and TV shows
Acting (124)
- 2002 The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1986 Kung Fu: The Movie
as Master Sun
- 1977
- 1977
- 1976 Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
as Chiang-Kai-Shek
- 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun
as Hai Fat
- 1973
- 1972
- 1972
- 1972 Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
as Master Sun
- 1971 Chandler
as Leo
- 1971 One More Train to Rob
as Mr. Chang
- 1970
- 1969
- 1969 Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
as Kenji Yamashita
- 1966 The Sand Pebbles
as Major Chin
- 1966
- 1965
- 1965
- 1965
- 1964
- 1964
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963
- 1962 A Girl Named Tamiko
as Otani
- 1962 Diamond Head
as Yamagata (uncredited)
- 1962 Confessions of an Opium Eater
as George Wah
- 1962
- 1960
- 1960
- 1959
- 1959
- 1958 Hong Kong Affair
as Li Noon
- 1958 The Quiet American
as Mr. Heng
- 1957
- 1957
- 1957 Battle Hymn
as Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)
- 1956 Around the World in 80 Days
as Saloon Manager (uncredited)
- 1956 The Conqueror
as Captain of Wang's guard
- 1956
- 1955
- 1955
- 1955 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
as Robert Hung
- 1955 House of Bamboo
as Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited)
- 1955 Soldier of Fortune
as Gen. Po Lin
- 1954
- 1954 The Shanghai Story
as Officer
- 1954 Living It Up
as Dr. Lee
- 1954 The Bamboo Prison
as Commandant Hsai Tung
- 1954 Hell and High Water
as Hakada Fujimori
- 1953 China Venture
as Chang Sung
- 1953 Destination Gobi
as Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp (uncredited)
- 1953 Target Hong Kong
as Fu Chao
- 1952
- 1952
- 1952
- 1951 I Was an American Spy
as Col. Masamato
- 1951 The Steel Helmet
as Sergeant Tanaka
- 1949 Malaya
as Colonel Genichi Tomura
- 1949 The Clay Pigeon
as Ken Tokoyama
- 1949 State Department: File 649
as Marshal Yun Usu
- 1948 Rogues' Regiment
as Kao Pang
- 1948
- 1948 The Cobra Strikes
as Hyder Ali
- 1948 Half Past Midnight
as Lee Gow
- 1948 To the Ends of the Earth
as Commissioner Lu (uncredited)
- 1948 Women in the Night
as Colonel Noyama
- 1947 Beyond Our Own
as James Wong
- 1947 Web of Danger
as Wing
- 1947 Seven Were Saved
as Colonel Yamura
- 1946 Tokyo Rose
as Colonel Suzuki
- 1945 Prison Ship
as Capt. Okisawa
- 1945 First Yank into Tokyo
as Col. Hideko Okanura
- 1945 Back to Bataan
as Maj. Hasko
- 1945 China's Little Devils
as Colonel Huraji
- 1945 China Sky
as Col. Yasuda
- 1945 Betrayal from the East
as Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani
- 1945 God Is My Co-Pilot
as Tokyo Joe
- 1944 The Keys of the Kingdom
as Lt. Shon
- 1944 The Story of Dr. Wassell
as Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)
- 1944 The Purple Heart
as General Ito Mitsubi
- 1943 So Proudly We Hail
as Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)
- 1943 Destroyer
as Japanese Submarine Commander
- 1943 Behind the Rising Sun
as Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium
- 1943 Yanks Ahoy
as Japanese Submarine Officer (uncredited)
- 1943 China
as Lin Yun
- 1943 Flight for Freedom
as Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)
- 1943 The Falcon Strikes Back
as Jerry
- 1943
- 1942 Road to Morocco
as Chinese Announcer (uncredited)
- 1942 Across the Pacific
as First Officer Miyuma
- 1942
- 1942 Star Spangled Rhythm
as Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)
- 1941 Secret of the Wastelands
as Quan
- 1940 Doomed to Die
as Tong Leader
- 1940 The Fatal Hour
as Jeweler
- 1939 Barricade
as Colonel Commander of Rescue Party
- 1939 Daughter of the Tong
as Wong
- 1939 Island of Lost Men
as General Ahn Ling
- 1939 Lady of the Tropics
as Delaroch's Chauffeur
- 1939 Miracles for Sale
as Chinese Soldier in Demo
- 1939 Mr. Wong in Chinatown
as Tong Chief
- 1939 Panama Patrol
as Tommy Young
- 1939 North of Shanghai
as Jed's Pilot
- 1938 Shadows Over Shanghai
as Fong
- 1938 Too Hot to Handle
as Charlie (uncredited)
- 1938 Blondes at Work
as Sam Wong (uncredited)
- 1937 West of Shanghai
as Mr. Cheng
- 1937 That Certain Woman
as Elevator Operator (uncredited)
- 1937 The Good Earth
as Farmer (uncredited)
- 1937 The Soldier and the Lady
as Tartar (Uncredited)
- 1937 Lost Horizon
as Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)
- 1936 Stowaway
as Chinese Merchant (uncredited)
- 1936 Mad Holiday
as Li Yat (uncredited)
- 1936
- 1936 Roaming Lady
as Chinese Seaman
- 1935 China Seas
as Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)
- 1935 Stranded
as Chinese Groom (uncredited)
- 1934 Student Tour
as Geisha's Customer
- 1934 Now and Forever
as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
- 1933 The Bitter Tea of General Yen
as Captain Li
- 1932 The Secrets of Wu Sin
as Charlie San
- 1932 War Correspondent
as Bandit (uncredited)
Talk shows and appearances (2)
- 1968 The Dick Cavett Show
1 episode
- 1950 The Colgate Comedy Hour
1 episode