Richard Loo, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Richard Loo
Acting

Richard Loo
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1903-10-01,Maui, Hawaii, USA
Gender
Male
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

The Man with the Golden Gun

6.4

The Man with the Golden Gun
1974-12-04

The Sand Pebbles

7.2

The Sand Pebbles
1966-12-20

Women in the Night

3.9

Women in the Night
1948-01-02

Hell and High Water

6.1

Hell and High Water
1954-02-06

North of Shanghai

0

North of Shanghai
1939-01-24

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

6.1

The Bitter Tea of General Yen
1932-12-25

The Clay Pigeon

5.5

The Clay Pigeon
1949-03-03

The Purple Heart

6

The Purple Heart
1944-02-25

Betrayal from the East

5.8

Betrayal from the East
1945-04-24

6.5

Malaya
1949-12-27

The Falcon Strikes Back

5.6

The Falcon Strikes Back
1943-04-01

6.2

The Good Earth
1937-06-02

The Steel Helmet

6.9

The Steel Helmet
1951-01-24

The Keys of the Kingdom

7

The Keys of the Kingdom
1944-12-15

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

6.4

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
1943-02-19

6.1

Back to Bataan
1945-05-30

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

5.9

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1955-08-18

I Was an American Spy

6.2

I Was an American Spy
1951-04-14

6.4

Battle Hymn
1957-02-14

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

5.8

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002-07-02

Target Hong Kong

5

Target Hong Kong
1953-02-06

The Quiet American

5.783

The Quiet American
1958-02-08

6

The Fatal Hour
1940-01-15

Confessions of an Opium Eater

5.6

Confessions of an Opium Eater
1962-06-20

4.5

Chandler
1971-12-01

First Yank into Tokyo

5.4

First Yank into Tokyo
1945-09-05

7

Lost Horizon
1937-03-03

5

The Scavengers
1959-10-01

Star Spangled Rhythm

5.9

Star Spangled Rhythm
1942-03-05

To the Ends of the Earth

5.6

To the Ends of the Earth
1948-02-07

One More Train to Rob

5.4

One More Train to Rob
1971-02-19

Seven Were Saved

6.1

Seven Were Saved
1947-03-28

Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur

0

Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur
1976-01-04

Flight for Freedom

5.2

Flight for Freedom
1943-04-14

6.8

China
1943-04-21

A Girl Named Tamiko

5

A Girl Named Tamiko
1962-12-27

The Bamboo Prison

6.4

The Bamboo Prison
1954-06-15

West of Shanghai

5.4

West of Shanghai
1937-10-30

The Shanghai Story

4.8

The Shanghai Story
1954-09-01

Daughter of the Tong

5

Daughter of the Tong
1939-08-28

5.4

Diamond Head
1962-12-27

5

Panama Patrol
1939-03-20

Across the Pacific

6.5

Across the Pacific
1942-09-04

Shadows Over Shanghai

5.7

Shadows Over Shanghai
1938-10-14

The Secrets of Wu Sin

6

The Secrets of Wu Sin
1932-12-15

Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities

0

Marcus Welby, M.D.: A Matter of Humanities
1969-03-26

Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon

7

Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
1972-02-22

State Department: File 649

5

State Department: File 649
1949-02-11

6.3

China Seas
1935-08-09

House of Bamboo

6.1

House of Bamboo
1955-07-01

4.8

Web of Danger
1947-06-10

Mr. Wong in Chinatown

5.4

Mr. Wong in Chinatown
1939-08-01

Miracles for Sale

6.4

Miracles for Sale
1939-08-10

Lady of the Tropics

6.1

Lady of the Tropics
1939-08-11

Now and Forever

6.7

Now and Forever
1934-08-31

7.553

5 Fingers
1952-02-22

5.6

Wake Island
1942-08-11

6

Prison Ship
1945-11-15

5

Tokyo Rose
1946-02-08

5.8

Doomed to Die
1940-08-12

Rogues' Regiment

6.5

Rogues' Regiment
1948-12-28

Secret of the Wastelands

0

Secret of the Wastelands
1941-11-15

5

Student Tour
1934-10-05

5

Barricade
1939-12-08

The Story of Dr. Wassell

6.3

The Story of Dr. Wassell
1944-07-04

Around the World in Eighty Days

6.6

Around the World in Eighty Days
1956-10-17

5.5

China Sky
1945-05-16

Destination Gobi

5.7

Destination Gobi
1953-03-20

The Soldier and the Lady

6.5

The Soldier and the Lady
1937-04-09

The Cobra Strikes

5

The Cobra Strikes
1948-04-24

3.422

The Conqueror
1956-03-28

6.7

Stowaway
1936-12-25

5.8

Stranded
1935-06-29

6.4

Living It Up
1954-07-15

Behind the Rising Sun

5.7

Behind the Rising Sun
1943-08-01

Blondes at Work

6.1

Blondes at Work
1938-02-05

6.6

Destroyer
1943-08-19

So Proudly We Hail

5.5

So Proudly We Hail
1943-09-09

5

Roaming Lady
1936-05-02

Half Past Midnight

6

Half Past Midnight
1948-03-01

Road to Morocco

6.8

Road to Morocco
1942-11-10

China's Little Devils

4

China's Little Devils
1945-05-27

God Is My Co-Pilot

7

God Is My Co-Pilot
1945-04-07

6

Mad Holiday
1936-11-13

Hong Kong Affair

0

Hong Kong Affair
1958-05-11

Soldier of Fortune

5.9

Soldier of Fortune
1955-05-24

0

Beyond Our Own
1947-11-16

7.5

China Venture
1953-09-07

Island of Lost Men

5.7

Island of Lost Men
1939-08-16

6.6

Family Affair
1966-09-12

6

Burke's Law
1963-09-20

5.5

December Bride
1954-10-04

The Incredible Hulk

7.2

The Incredible Hulk
1977-11-04

The Colgate Comedy Hour

7

The Colgate Comedy Hour
1950-09-10

7.6

Kung Fu
1972-10-14

6.5

My Three Sons
1960-09-29

I Dream of Jeannie

7.8

I Dream of Jeannie
1965-09-18

7.1

Hawaii Five-O
1968-09-20

The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries

7

The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries
1977-01-30

7.6

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

4.4

Studio One
1948-11-07

7.873

Bewitched
1964-09-17

The Beachcomber

0

The Beachcomber
1962-02-20

The Wild Wild West

7.5

The Wild Wild West
1965-09-17

7.1

Police Story
1973-03-20

7.1

McCloud
1970-02-17

4.5

Navy Log
1955-09-20

5.7

The Dakotas
1963-01-07

Cavalcade of America

3.5

Cavalcade of America
1952-10-01

7

Honey West
1965-09-17

The Outer Limits

7.8

The Outer Limits
1963-09-16

The Man Called X

0

The Man Called X
1956-01-27

6.8

Maverick
1957-09-22

0

Hong Kong
1960-03-01

Cavalcade of America

3.5

Cavalcade of America
1952-10-01

Four Star Playhouse

5.7

Four Star Playhouse
1952-09-25

The Dick Cavett Show

6.6

The Dick Cavett Show
1968-06-06