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person_profile-Richard Loo

Richard Loo Died at age: 80

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Richard Loo

Date of Birth:

Oct 01, 1903

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Nov 20, 1983

Biography of

Richard Loo

    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]

Photos of

Richard Loo

Photos ( 5 Photos

Filmography of

Richard Loo

Found 89 Movies in total

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 2002

... 1976

... 1974

Chandler

Leo ( Actor )

... 1971

One More Train to Rob

Mr. Chang ( Actor )

... 1971

... 1969

The Sand Pebbles

Major Chin ( Actor )

... 1966

... 1962

A Girl Named Tamiko

Otani ( Actor )

... 1962

Confessions of an Opium Eater

George Wah ( Actor )

... 1962

... 1959

Hong Kong Affair

Li Noon ( Actor )

... 1958

The Quiet American

Mr. Heng ( Actor )

... 1958

Battle Hymn

Gen. Kim (scenes deleted) ( Actor )

... 1957

Around the World in Eighty Days

Saloon Manager (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1956

The Conqueror

Captain of Wang's guard ( Actor )

... 1956

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Robert Hung ( Actor )

... 1955

House of Bamboo

Inspector Kito's Voice (voice) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1955

Soldier of Fortune

Gen. Po Lin ( Actor )

... 1955

The Shanghai Story

Officer ( Actor )

... 1954

Living It Up

Dr. Lee ( Actor )

... 1954

The Bamboo Prison

Commandant Hsai Tung ( Actor )

... 1954

Hell and High Water

Hakada Fujimori ( Actor )

... 1954

China Venture

Chang Sung ( Actor )

... 1953

Destination Gobi

Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1953

Target Hong Kong

Fu Chao ( Actor )

... 1953

... 1952

I Was an American Spy

Col. Masamato ( Actor )

... 1951

The Steel Helmet

Sergeant Tanaka ( Actor )

... 1951

Malaya

Colonel Genichi Tomura ( Actor )

... 1949

The Clay Pigeon

Ken Tokoyama ( Actor )

... 1949

State Department: File 649

Marshal Yun Usu ( Actor )

... 1949

Rogues' Regiment

Kao Pang ( Actor )

... 1948

The Cobra Strikes

Hyder Ali ( Actor )

... 1948

Half Past Midnight

Lee Gow ( Actor )

... 1948

To the Ends of the Earth

Commissioner Lu (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1948

Women in the Night

Colonel Noyama ( Actor )

... 1948

Beyond Our Own

James Wong ( Actor )

... 1947

Web of Danger

Wing ( Actor )

... 1947

Seven Were Saved

Colonel Yamura ( Actor )

... 1947

Tokyo Rose

Colonel Suzuki ( Actor )

... 1946

Prison Ship

Capt. Okisawa ( Actor )

... 1945

First Yank into Tokyo

Col. Hideko Okanura ( Actor )

... 1945

Back to Bataan

Maj. Hasko ( Actor )

... 1945

China's Little Devils

Colonel Huraji ( Actor )

... 1945

China Sky

Col. Yasuda ( Actor )

... 1945

Betrayal from the East

Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani ( Actor )

... 1945

God Is My Co-Pilot

Tokyo Joe ( Actor )

... 1945

The Keys of the Kingdom

Lt. Shon ( Actor )

... 1944

The Story of Dr. Wassell

Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

The Purple Heart

General Ito Mitsubi ( Actor )

... 1944

So Proudly We Hail

Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

Destroyer

Japanese Submarine Commander ( Actor )

... 1943

Behind the Rising Sun

Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium ( Actor )

... 1943

China

Lin Yun ( Actor )

... 1943

Flight for Freedom

Mr. Yokahata (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

... 1943

Road to Morocco

Chinese Announcer (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Across the Pacific

First Officer Miyuma ( Actor )

... 1942

... 1942

Star Spangled Rhythm

Emperor Hirohito (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

... 1941

Doomed to Die

Tong Leader ( Actor )

... 1940

The Fatal Hour

Jeweler ( Actor )

... 1940

Barricade

Colonel Commander of Rescue Party ( Actor )

... 1939

Daughter of the Tong

Wong ( Actor )

... 1939

Island of Lost Men

General Ahn Ling ( Actor )

... 1939

Lady of the Tropics

Delaroch's Chauffeur ( Actor )

... 1939

Miracles for Sale

Chinese Soldier in Demo ( Actor )

... 1939

Mr. Wong in Chinatown

Tong Chief ( Actor )

... 1939

Panama Patrol

Tommy Young ( Actor )

... 1939

North of Shanghai

Jed's Pilot ( Actor )

... 1939

... 1938

Blondes at Work

Sam Wong (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

West of Shanghai

Cheng ( Actor )

... 1937

The Good Earth

Farmer (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

The Soldier and the Lady

Tartar (Uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

Lost Horizon

Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

Stowaway

Chinese Merchant (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1936

Mad Holiday

Li Yat (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1936

Roaming Lady

Chinese Seaman ( Actor )

... 1936

China Seas

Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1935

Stranded

Chinese Groom (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1935

Student Tour

Geisha's Customer ( Actor )

... 1934

Now and Forever

Hotel Clerk (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1934

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

Captain Li ( Actor )

... 1932

The Secrets of Wu Sin

Charlie San ( Actor )

... 1932