15 Facts About Richard Loo

Richard Loo was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s.

Richard Loo 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.

Richard Loo 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 Richard Loo to start over.

Richard Loo became involved with amateur, then professional, theater companies and in 1931 made his first film.

Richard Loo was most often typecast as the Japanese enemy pilot, spy or interrogator during World War II.

Richard Loo was considered an "atmosphere" player along with Spencer Chan, Willie Fung and Frank Chew.

Richard Loo had a rare heroic role as a war-weary Japanese-American soldier in Samuel Fuller's Korean War classic The Steel Helmet, but he spent much of the latter part of his career performing stock roles in films and minor television roles.

Richard Loo's last acting appearance was in The Incredible Hulk TV series in 1981, but he continued to act in Toyota commercials into 1982.

Richard Loo died of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 20,1983.

Richard Loo's first wife, Bessie Sue, was a well-known Hollywood agent.

Beverly Richard Loo was prominent in publishing, while Angela Richard Loo Levy was a Hollywood agent and accomplished ski patroller.

Richard Loo remained with his second wife, Hope, until his death in 1983 at the age of 80.

The latter, who loved to do an impression of Richard Loo, specifically asked him about his career, including being of Chinese ancestry yet playing Japanese soldiers in WWII films and the different ways Chinese and Japanese spoke English.