Richard Loo

Richard Loo

  • Birthday: 1903-10-01
  • Deathday: 1983-11-20
  • 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. 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]

Filmography

Women in the Night

1948

As Colonel Noyama

Betrayal from the East

1945

As Lt. Cmdr. Miyazaki, alias Tani

Target Hong Kong

1953

As Fu Chao

Prison Ship

1945

As Capt. Okisawa

Hong Kong Affair

1958

As Li Noon

The Clay Pigeon

1949

As Ken Tokoyama

I Was an American Spy

1951

As Col. Masamato

First Yank into Tokyo

1945

As Col. Hideko Okanura

West of Shanghai

1937

As Cheng

Panama Patrol

1939

As Tommy Young

Web of Danger

1947

As Wing

Tokyo Rose

1946

As Colonel Suzuki

The Steel Helmet

1951

As Sergeant Tanaka

Back to Bataan

1945

As Maj. Hasko

Seven Were Saved

1947

As Colonel Yamura

State Department: File 649

1949

As Marshal Yun Usu

China Sky

1945

As Col. Yasuda

The Cobra Strikes

1948

As Hyder Ali

Beyond Our Own

1947

As James Wong

China Venture

1953

As Chang Sung

The Secrets of Wu Sin

1932

As Charlie San

Chandler

1971

As Leo

One More Train to Rob

1971

As Mr. Chang

Flight for Freedom

1943

As Mr. Yokahata (uncredited)

Hell and High Water

1954

As Hakada Fujimori

China

1943

As Lin Yun

Malaya

1949

As Colonel Genichi Tomura

Battle Hymn

1957

As Gen. Kim (scenes deleted)

The Quiet American

1958

As Mr. Heng

A Girl Named Tamiko

1962

As Otani

The Bamboo Prison

1954

As Commandant Hsai Tung

Rogues' Regiment

1948

As Kao Pang

China's Little Devils

1945

As Colonel Huraji

Living It Up

1954

As Dr. Lee

The Purple Heart

1944

As General Ito Mitsubi

The Fatal Hour

1940

As Jeweler

Doomed to Die

1940

As Tong Leader

Half Past Midnight

1948

As Lee Gow

Soldier of Fortune

1955

As Gen. Po Lin

Marcus Welby, M.D.

1969

As Kenji Yamashita

North of Shanghai

1939

As Jed's Pilot

Now and Forever

1934

As Hotel Clerk (uncredited)

The Sand Pebbles

1966

As Major Chin

Destination Gobi

1953

As Commanding Officer, Japanese POW Camp (uncredited)

The Conqueror

1956

As Captain of Wang's guard

God Is My Co-Pilot

1945

As Tokyo Joe

To the Ends of the Earth

1948

As Commissioner Lu (uncredited)

Destroyer

1943

As Japanese Submarine Commander

Across the Pacific

1942

As First Officer Miyuma

The Story of Dr. Wassell

1944

As Chinese Doctor on Train (uncredited)

Diamond Head

1962

As

Lost Horizon

1937

As Shanghai Airport Official (uncredited)

5 Fingers

1952

As

The Good Earth

1937

As Farmer (uncredited)

The Keys of the Kingdom

1944

As Lt. Shon

The Shanghai Story

1954

As Officer

Stowaway

1936

As Chinese Merchant (uncredited)

Mr. Wong in Chinatown

1939

As Tong Chief

Lady of the Tropics

1939

As Delaroch's Chauffeur

Mad Holiday

1936

As Li Yat (uncredited)

Barricade

1939

As Colonel Commander of Rescue Party

Roaming Lady

1936

As Chinese Seaman

The Soldier and the Lady

1937

As Tartar (Uncredited)

Miracles for Sale

1939

As Chinese Soldier in Demo

House of Bamboo

1955

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

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

2002

As Sgt. Tanaka (archive footage) (uncredited)

Blondes at Work

1938

As Sam Wong (uncredited)

Behind the Rising Sun

1943

As Japanese Officer Dispensing Opium

Road to Morocco

1942

As Chinese Announcer (uncredited)

Stranded

1935

As Chinese Groom (uncredited)

China Seas

1935

As Chinese Inspector at Gangplank (uncredited)

Wake Island

1942

As

So Proudly We Hail

1943

As Japanese Radio Announcer (Voice) (Uncredited)

Student Tour

1934

As Geisha's Customer

Star Spangled Rhythm

1942

As Emperor Hirohito (uncredited)

Around the World in Eighty Days

1956

As Saloon Manager (uncredited)

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