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| As Number One Son Lee Chan |
Hubby and I have been watching old episodes of
Kung Fu, which featured actor
Keye Luke as the blind Master Po. To older generations he is remembered from the
Charlie Chan serials as Charlie Chan's Number One Son Lee Chan.
Wikipedia says that he was the first Chinese-American contract player signed by RKO, Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was one of the most prominent Asian actors of American cinema in the mid-twentieth century. However, before he was an actor, he was an artist.
According to
IMDb, Keye Luke was born in Canton, China. He grew up in Seattle, Washington,
and entered the film business as a commercial artist and a designer of
movie posters. He was hired as a technical advisor on several
Asian-themed films, and made his film debut in
The Painted Veil
(1934). It seemed that he appeared in almost every film that called for
Chinese characters, usually in small parts but occasionally, as in T
he Good Earth
(1937), in a meatier, more substantial role. In addition, he played Dr.
Kildare's rival at the hospital in the Dr. Kildare series at MGM.
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| As Blind Master Po |
More from
Wikipedia says Luke worked on several of the murals inside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and he did some of the original artwork for the 1933
King Kong pressbook. Luke also painted the casino's mural in
The Shanghai Gesture. He published a limited edition set of pen and ink drawings of
The Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam in the 1950s. He also created illustrations for the books
The Unfinished Song of Achmed Mohammed by Earle Liederman,
Blessed Mother Goose by Frank Scully and an edition of
Messer Marco Polo by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne (unpublished).
Other art done by Luke included the dust jackets for books published in
the 1950s and 1960s. It was through his studio art work that he was
recruited for his first movie roles.
I always find it fascinating to learn about an actor's life before the acting began, so just thought I'd share! By the way, are you a fan of
Kung Fu? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!
3 comments:
I used to watch Kung Fu! Is it airing on cable or streaming?
I know the name, but I can't recall seeing him in anything.
@Norma: We got DVDs from the library, but I have seen it on one of those nostalgia channels. I think it's on Me TV:).
@William: I'd see the credits on Kung Fu and see his name, but it wasn't until I looked him up did I realize he was Number One Son;).
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