Richard Loo was born on October 1, 1903 in Maui, Hawaii of Chinese descent. He attended the University of California at Berkeley in the 1920s and later began an import-export business. The stock market crash of 1929 doomed that effort and he turned to acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. In a play where he played a rickshaw boy the director told him to speak Chinese but being a third generation Chinese he could not speak the language and had to "fake it." He soon became the best known Asian actor that Americans "loved to hate." He always played the Japanese interrogator who was "educated at UCLA" and thus spoke fluent English. Among his film credits were: "Dirigible" (1931) in an uncredited role, his film debut; "War Correspondent" (1932); "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" (1933) as Captain Li; "The Good Earth" (1937) uncredited as a Farmer, one of few Asian actors in the film; "The Lost Horizon" (1937) as Shanghai Airport Official; "Island of the Lost Men" (1939) as Gen. Ahn Ling; "Flying Tigers" (1942) as Dr. Singh; "Across the Pacific" (1942) as First Officer Miyuma; "Wake Island" (1942) as Mr. Saburo Kurusu; "Bombs Over Burma" (1943); "The Purple Heart" (1944) as Japanese General, probably his best known role; "Back to Bataan" (1945) as Maj. Hasako; "The Story of Dr. Wassell" (1944) as Dr. Wei; "Keys of the Kingdom" (1944) with Gregory Peck, as Lt. Shon; "The Steel Helmet" (1951) as Sgt. Tanaka; "The Sand Pebbles" (1966) as Maj. Chin; "One More Train to Rob" (1971) as Mr. Chang and "The Man With the Golden Gun" (1974) as Hai Fat, a James Bond film and his last theatrical film. On TV he was a regular on "Kung Fu" (1972) playing Master Sun. He also guested on many TV series including: "Perry Mason"; "Family Affair"; "Bewitched"; "Hawaii 5-0"; "It Takes A Thief" and "Bonanza." He died on November 20, 1983 in Burbank, California of complications of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 80.
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