Where: Guangzhou, China
DOD: Jan. 12, 1991
Where: Whittier, California
Occupation: Actor
Years Active: 1934-1990
-Keye Luke is a Chinese-born American actor who was best known for his role as Lee Chan, the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan series. Along with playing Kato in the 1939-1941 series Green Hornet, before it was remade in the 1960s with Bruce Lee playing that role.
-He was one of the first Asian actors of American media to become very well known.
Background
-Born in Guangzhou, China to a father who owned an art shop, but grew up in Seattle, Washington.
-Had 4 siblings who all migrated to California during the Depression. His younger brother Edwin Luke became an actor in the Charlie Chan series.
-Became a naturalized US citizen in 1944, which was fictionally created in the novel Shanghai Girls by Lisa See.
-Before he became an actor, Luke worked as a local artist in Seattle and later in Hollywood, worked on several of the murals that are inside the Grauman's Chinese Theater.
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| Keye Luke and David Carradine on Kung-Fu |
Career
-His film debut was in the 1934 film The Painted Veil, and later on gained his big role as Charlie Chan's eldest son in the film Charlie Chan in Paris.
-He left the series in 1938 shortly after the actor who played him, Warner Oland, died.
-Luke made some films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, being cast in the Dr. Kildare series. Later on, he went to Universal Studios, where he was given the chance to play the valet/chauffeur Kato in the Green Hornet series.
-In 1973, he provided the voice of the character Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon, starring Bruce Lee.
-In 1958, he was featured in a Broadway play, The Flower Drum Song. The soundtrack has him singing the parts of Mr. Wang, the family patriarch
-He also did TV. He played the character Li Wong, a laundryman and property owner on the show Annie Oakley.
-In 1986, he played the gardener on an episode of The Golden Girls
-And on the Scooby Doo, Where Are You? episode "Mystery Mask Mixup", he voiced the villains.
-Died of a stroke on Jan. 12, 1991 and he is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California
Filmography
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