*Famous Faces on "Kung Fu" (Season One)!
He is a man of peace in a violent land. He is Kwai Chang Caine, schooled in the spirit-mind-body ways of the Shaolin priesthood by the blind, avuncular Master Po and the stern yet loving Master Kan. Caine speaks softly but hits hard. He lives humbly yet knows great contentment. He is the Old West's most unusual hero. But hero is not a word Caine would use. He would simply say, "I am a man."
No gun. No horse. No equal. The mystical series that became a global phenomenon. Are you ready to begin seeing this hit-show? Then, "Snatch the pebble from my hand grasshopper."
No gun. No horse. No equal. The mystical series that became a global phenomenon. Are you ready to begin seeing this hit-show? Then, "Snatch the pebble from my hand grasshopper."
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- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Born in New York City in 1960 to Eugenio Pera and Louise (also known as Lisa) Vinnichenko (1940-2013), Radames Pera moved to Hollywood in 1963 with his Russian-born mother, who was pursuing her own acting career. At age eight, he was discovered by director Daniel Mann and cast as "Stavros", the dying son of Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas, in A Dream of Kings (1969). Pera's mother found him an agent and he ended up starring and guest-starring in many TV shows in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. As he was able to "deliver the goods" emotionally, he became a successful young character actor which led to his landing the role of Young Caine, aka "Grasshopper", in Kung Fu (1972), and, later, of writer John Sanderson Edwards Jr., aka "John Jr.", Mary Ingalls' fiance, in Little House on the Prairie (1974).
In the summer of 1978, he began a three-year intensive study of acting and directing with Stella Adler, first in Los Angeles and then in New York, where he played Alan Bates's estranged son in the British feature film Very Like a Whale (1980). Not long after returning to L.A. in 1981 he began to encounter the same glass ceiling that so many child actors in that era faced: the near-impossible transition to an adult acting career. His last major feature film role was as "Sgt. Stepan Gorsky" in John Milius's Red Dawn (1984). His last major TV role was as a Nazi vigilante youth-gang leader in The New Mike Hammer (1984).
In 1988, he started his own business designing and installing home theater and residential sound systems in Los Angeles and quickly acquired several superstars as clients. In 1993, he successfully moved his business to Portland, Oregon and later to Austin, Texas. He has lived in France since 2017."Young Caine"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Born Norman Adelberg in 1924, he served in the Army during World War II. At the end of the conflict he had the opportunity to benefit from the GI Bill program meant to help returning soldiers to start or resume studying. That is how, while attending Texas Christian University, he discovered on the boards of on-campus theater that he had a talent for acting. This was the beginning of a long, long career. Though most of the time in small or even bit parts, Alden, worked for such big names as Howard Hawks, Jerry Lewis, Walt Disney, Woody Allen and Tim Burton. He might have become a major star himself after Richard C. Sarafian chose him for the title role of Andy (1965). The director must have been very pleased with Alden for, as Andy Chadakis - the retarded son of elderly Greek immigrants - he showed remarkable acting ability . Unfortunately, the film was little seen and the gifted actor landed no other parts of such importance and quality afterward.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Sheriff Crossman (as Norm Alden)- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
A tall, sinewy, austere-looking character actor with silver hair, rugged features and a distinctive voice, John Robert Anderson appeared in hundreds of films and television episodes. Immensely versatile, he was at his best submerging himself in the role of historical figures (he impersonated Abraham Lincoln three times and twice baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, men whom he strongly resembled). He was a familiar presence in westerns and science-fiction serials, usually as upstanding, dignified and generally benign citizens (a rare exception was his Ebonite interrogator in The Outer Limits (1963) episode "Nightmare"). He had a high opinion of Rod Serling and was proud to be featured in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), most memorably as the tuxedo-clad angel Gabriel in "A Passage for Trumpet" (doing for Jack Klugman what Henry Travers did for James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)).
Known to other youths as 'J.R.', Anderson had a happy childhood, growing up first on a small farm near Clayton, Illinois, and then in the mid-sized town of Quincy where his mother operated a cigar stand. A rangy, outdoorsy type, he excelled at various sports, was a drum major, a member of the track team and the Boy Scouts. During World War II, he served in the Coast Guard, mainly involved in helping protect convoys from U-boat attacks. In 1946, he commenced studies at the University of Iowa, eventually graduating with a Master's degree in Drama. His acting career began on the riverboat 'Goldenrod' (now the oldest surviving Mississippi River Basin showboat in America) and proceeded from there to the Cleveland Playhouse for a year, then the New York stage and summer stock with parts in prestigious plays like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Home of the Brave". He also occasionally doubled up as a singer on Broadway ("Paint Your Wagon" (1951), "The Emperor's Clothes" (1953)).
Anderson began as a regular television actor during that medium's formative years. In the course of the next four decades, his appearance barely changing, he was consistently excellent wherever he popped up, be it as western lawmen (including a recurring role as Virgil Earp in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955)), as cops, governors, judges and army officers; hard-nosed oil executive Herbert Styles in Dallas (1978), or as kindly patriarch of the Hazard clan in North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985). Though less traveled on the big screen, Anderson was particularly impressive as the furtive second-hand car dealer, 'California Charlie', in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), the ruthless leader of the renegades, Addis, in Day of the Evil Gun (1968) and, reprising his role as Lincoln, in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). One of the best all-rounders in the business, Anderson died of a heart attack at his home in Sherman Oaks in August 1992, aged 69.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Benjamin Dundee- Brian Andrews was born on 17 October 1966 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Halloween (1978), The Great Santini (1979) and Days of Our Lives (1965).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Harpy Lovitt - Actor
- Soundtrack
Parley Baer was born on 5 August 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for License to Drive (1988), A Fever in the Blood (1961) and Dave (1993). He was married to Ernestine Clark. He died on 22 November 2002 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Dr. Gormley- He made guest appearances on TV series like Bonanza, Perry Mason, Maverick, The Andy Griffith Show, Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone (the 1963 episode "Death Ship"), Ben Casey, The Outer Limits, The Munsters, The Time Tunnel, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Honey West, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, The FBI, The Odd Couple, Kung Fu, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files, Barnaby Jones, Dallas, and Lou Grant.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Jim Gallagher - Actor
- Writer
- Director
Larry Bishop was born on November 30, 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in New Jersey. He's the son of famous Rat Pack comic Joey Bishop. Larry attended high school in Beverly Hills, California. After graduation Bishop was briefly in an improvisational group whose other members included Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks and Richard Dreyfuss. Larry was hook-handed drummer Abraham in Wild in the Streets (1968). Bishop achieved his enduring cult popularity with his portrayals of scruffy bikers in The Savage Seven (1968), Angel Unchained (1970) and Chrome and Hot Leather (1971). Moreover, Larry did guest spots on such TV shows as The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Barnaby Jones (1973), Laverne & Shirley (1976), Barney Miller (1975), Kung Fu (1972), Love, American Style (1969) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965). Although he appeared alongside fellow biker movie regular Adam Roarke in the dim-witted comedy How Come Nobody's on Our Side? (1974) and had a sizable supporting role in The Big Fix (1978), Bishop's acting career sadly ran out of gas in the early 80s. Larry bounced backed in the mid 90s by writing the script for the mobster black comedy _Underworld_. He also has a substantial part in this film. Bishop then wrote, directed, co-produced and co-starred in the equally offbeat and uproarious Mad Dog Time (1996). Larry popped up in a cameo as coarse, belligerent strip club owner Larry Gomez in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). Larry Bishop's most recent picture is Hell Ride (2008), an homage to 60s biker cinema that he not only wrote, directed, and co-produced, but stars in as well.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Major Trapnell- Actor
- Writer
Most impressionable and indelibly remembered as the sensitive, cherubic-faced college student/boyfriend of Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), actor Wendell Burton was born in Texas on July 21, 1947. When he was only five, his father, an Air Force technical sergeant, was killed in a plane crash in Washington state, where the family had relocated. As a result his family returned to Texas in order to be near relatives. While in high school the family moved once again, this time to the San Francisco area. Following graduation, he majored in political science at Somona State College and, after taking some public-speaking classes, joined in a few campus stage productions.
By chance, and at the insistence of a friend, he auditioned for and won the title role in the San Francisco production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Fully engaged by this early theater success, he continued his education during the run of the show and transferred to San Francisco State where he took classes in acting and directing.
Wendell was "discovered" during the show's run by "Sterile Cuckoo" director Alan J. Pakula and chosen over hundreds of more experienced film actors to play the coveted role of Jerry Payne opposite Minnelli's Pookie Adams in the bittersweet campus romance that became an unqualified hit. Exquisitely paired, he and Minnelli are still identified with the movie's touching Oscar-nominated song "Come Saturday Morning."
In order to avoid a fresh-off-the-bus typecasting, Wendell took on the role of "Smitty" in the controversial screen adaptation of Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) in which he played a naive young inmate who is raped shortly after entering prison, and, by film's end, has degenerated into a sexual predator himself. He counterbalanced this with a Hallmark TV adaptation of his "Charlie Brown" musical. The small screen proved a viable medium for the young rising actor in the early 70s with above-average roles in the well-received mini-movies Murder Once Removed (1971), Go Ask Alice (1973) and The Red Badge of Courage (1974). He also played Dick Van Dyke and Hope Lange's son for one episode on the comedy star's "new" TV series in the 70s.
A soul-searcher by nature, Wendell questioned the direction of his life and, after much travel and study, fully immersed himself in the Christian religion in 1978. That same year he married and became the father of a daughter, Haven, who is now an actress in New York, and son, Adam, a San Francisco-based musician. Reminiscent of the perennially boyish and now balding Ron Howard in both mild-mannered looks and open, easy-going temperament, his career began to subside after a time due to the lack of quality acting opportunities offered, the importance of turning down roles he deemed morally objectionable, and ever-growing family responsibilities over the uncertainties of gainful TV/movie employment
Wendell eventually taught acting for a time in Hollywood. In 1988, he decided to pursue the business side of television and found work in ad sales, eventually becoming the West Coast Director of Sales for the Family Channel. In 1997 he and his family moved back to his home state of Texas in order to help launch a local independent TV station in Houston. The family eventually settled there.
Wendell served and found spiritual fulfillment as Director of Creative Ministries for a Houston megachurch organization in association with Joel Osteen and the Lakewood Church. He particularly enjoyed overseeing drama, dance and videography services for the various ministries and also pastors adult singles. Diagnosed with brain cancer, he died on May 30, 2017, at age 69.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Martin Crossman- Actor
- Producer
- Composer
A blond-haired, fair-complexioned actor with a toothy grin and capable of an unsettling glint in his eyes, Gary Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas, and was raised in Oklahoma. He is the son of Sadie Virginia (Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmar Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager. He has English, as well as Irish, Scottish, and German, ancestry. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1962 and for a while was a professional musician. A talented drummer, he played in several bands, including those of country-and-western legends Leon Russell, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson.
Busey's first film appearance was as a biker in the low-budget Angels Hard as They Come (1971) and, over the next few years, he landed several film roles generally as a country hick/redneck or surly, rebellious types. His real breakthrough came in the dynamic film The Buddy Holly Story (1978), with Busey taking the lead role as Buddy Holly, in addition to playing guitar and singing all the vocals! His stellar performance scored him a Best Actor nomination and the attention of Hollywood taking overcasting agents. Next up, he joined fellow young actors William Katt and Jan-Michael Vincent as surfing buddies growing up together in the cult surf film Big Wednesday (1978), directed by John Milius. However, a string of appearances in somewhat mediocre films took him out of the spotlight for several years, until he played the brutal assassin Mr. Joshua trying to kill Los Angeles cops Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the runaway mega-hit Lethal Weapon (1987). Further strong roles followed, including alongside Danny Glover once again in Predator 2 (1990). He was back on the beaches, this time tracking bank robbers with FBI agent Keanu Reeves, in Point Break (1991) and nearly stole the show as a psychotic Navy officer in league with terrorists led by Tommy Lee Jones taking over the USS Missouri in the highly popular Under Siege (1992).
The entertaining Busey has continued to remain busy in front of the cameras and has certainly developed a minor cult following among many film fans. Plus, he's also the proud father of accomplished young actor Jake Busey, whose looks make him almost a dead ringer for his famous father.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Josh- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Carradine, the son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic Art School, studying sculpture, and afterward roamed the South selling sketches. He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, he worked in local theatre. He applied for a job as as scenic designer to Cecil B. DeMille, who rejected his designs but gave him voice work in several films. His on-screen debut was in Tol'able David (1930), billed as Peter Richmond. A protégé and close friend of John Barrymore, Carradine was an extremely prolific film character actor while simultaneously maintaining a stage career in classic leading roles such as Hamlet and Malvolio. In his later years he was typed as a horror star, putting in appearances in many low- and ultra-low-budget horror films. He was a member of the group of actors often used by director John Ford that became known as "The John Ford Stock Company". John Carradine died at age 82 of natural causes on November 27, 1988.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Rev. Serenity Johnson- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
It seems the second generation of acting Carradines -- David, Keith and Robert -- are proudly continuing the family tradition and begetting a third generation of talent. The dynasty began with veteran Hollywood patriarch John Carradine, the son of a surgeon and a correspondent for the Associated Press. Keith was a child, born of John's second marriage to actress Sonia Sorel.
Lanky, laid-back and highly likable, Keith Ian Carradine was born in San Mateo, California, on August 8, 1949. His parents divorced when Keith was six. Following in the footsteps of older half-brother and mentor David Carradine, Keith studied theater arts at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, but dropped out after only one semester to pursue his career. Soon after, he auditioned for "Hair" in Los Angeles and made his Broadway debut in the 1969 rock musical, playing the role of Claude for an extended period of time. Keith next appeared with his father in a stage production of "Tobacco Road" (1970) in Florida.
The following year Keith broke into films with a part in the Kirk Douglas/Johnny Cash western A Gunfight (1971). Legendary director Robert Altman was quite taken by Keith's work in the film and gave him a part in his own movie McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), which sparked the first of many endeavors together. Keith also made a strong showing on TV, making his mini-movie debut with Man on a String (1972), and appearing with brother David in the TV movie pilot and various episodes of the cult series Kung Fu (1972) as the teenage version (seen in flashbacks) of David's character Kwai Chang Caine.
Keith continued to impress in Altman's films. He played one of three convicts in the critically-acclaimed movie Thieves Like Us (1974), but scored Oscar gold with his next Altman film, Nashville (1975) -- not with his acting but with his songwriting. His composition "I'm Easy" won both the Oscar and Golden Globe for "Best Song". Keith also earned a Grammy nomination in 1976 for his contribution to "Nashville" in the "Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special" category.
Keith first association with Altman's protégé, Alan Rudolph, occurred filming Welcome to L.A. (1976), to which he again contributed his music talent. Keith's rangy handsomeness and low-keyed acting style were on full display as he increased his popularity with appearances in such films as Ridley Scott's The Duellists (1977); Louis Malle's first American film, the visually-striking Pretty Baby (1978), that made a controversial star out of young Brooke Shields; and the comedy/romance An Almost Perfect Affair (1979). One acting trick that worked was pairing all three Carradine brothers in The Long Riders (1980), which recalled the infamous lives of brothers Cole, Jim and Bob Younger, and boasted three other sets of acting brothers (Keach, Quaid and Guest) as various other outlaw siblings.
Keith's acting reviews throughout much of his career would be decidedly mixed -- some would find his unassuming, introspective acting too listless while others found it beautifully realized and understated. Many of his best notices came from the Altman and Rudolph films, appearing in two of Rudolph acclaimed 80s works -- Choose Me (1984) and The Moderns (1988). He also persevered on TV with award-worthy work. His role in the mini-series Chiefs (1983) netted an Emmy nomination, while his recurring role as Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood (2004) earned a Golden Satellite nomination and his work in the made-for-TV-film Half a Lifetime (1986) scored a CableACE nomination. Regular series work came late in his career, starring in Fast Track (1997), Outreach (1999) and Complete Savages (2004), all of which were short-lived.
Keith's career was revitalized on the 80s and 90s stage. In addition to strong roles in "Another Part of the Forest" (1982) and "Detective Story" (1984), he won the Outer Critics Circle Award for his excellent work in 1982's "Foxfire" opposite Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn_ and then roped a Tony and Drama Desk nomination as humorist Will Rogers in the Broadway musical "The Will Rogers Follies" (1991). Most recently (2005) he starred in the American premiere of David Hare's satire "Stuff Happens" as none other than George W. Bush while expounding on the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Keith continues to write and compose. Hosting The History Channel's Wild West Tech (2003) and appeared on a season of the hit cable series Dexter (2006) and had a recurring role on the hit sitcom Charity, Dr. Finlay (1965). More recently he played the role of President Conrad Dalton in Madam Secretary (2014) starring Téa Leoni's Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord.
Millennium films include Wooly Boys (2001), a top-billed role in Falcons (2002), The Adventures of Ociee Nash (2002), Our Very Own (2005), Bobby Z (2007), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), The Family Tree (2011), After the Fall (2014), Dakota's Summer (2014), Bereave (2015), A Quiet Passion (2016) and The Old Man & the Gun (2018).
Keith has been married twice. Of his two children born from his first union to actress Sandra Ann Will Carradine, who played opposite him in the film Choose Me (1984), son Cade Carradine recently portrayed Lord Oxford in the film Richard III (2007) and daughter Sorel Carradine has been seen on TV. Keith and Sandra eventually divorced and he married actress Hayley DuMond in 2006; they met while appearing in the film The Hunter's Moon (1999). Keith's daughter Martha Plimpton, a highly gifted actress on her own, was a child from his relationship to actress Shelley Plimpton, whom he met when both were cast members in "Hair" back in 1969."Middle Caine"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
(uncredited)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
(uncredited)- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Robert Carradine was born on 24 March 1954 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Escape from L.A. (1996) and The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003). He was previously married to Edith (Edie) Mani.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Sonny Jim- Actress
- Soundtrack
Rosalind Chao is best known for M*A*S*H, The Joy Luck Club (1993), Star Trek, What Dreams May Come, and most recently The Laundromat (2019), and Plus One (2019). She was born and raised in Orange County, California where her parents ran a Chinese restaurant and pancake house. Rosalind first began appearing in commercials and television after having been spotted as a small child at her family restaurant. She had also trained and appeared on stage from an early age in the Peking Opera and Chinese dance. She continues to act in the theater, most recently starring in 2018 the National Theatre of Great Britain in a new play The Great Wave. She has been married to Simon Templeman since 1989. They have two children.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Dancer (uncredited)- Tina Chen is a Golden Globe, Emmy and Drama Desk nominee. She stars in Albert M. Chan's award-winning short film Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future for which she received the Best Actress award from the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival and a Best Actress nomination by the Asians On Film Festival. Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future was shown at many festivals in the US and Canada in 2015. Her other films include the independent feature Almost Perfect (dir. Bertha Bay-Sa Pan), playing opposite Kelly Hu, Roger Rees and Edison Chen (Festival Centerpiece Presentation at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival) and the short film, The Potential Wives of Norman Mao (dir. Derek Nguyen), which was part of the Cannes International Film Festival's Short Film Corner. She also starred in The Hawaiians (dir. Tom Gries), playing opposite Charlton Heston, for which she received a Golden Globe award nomination; Alice's Restaurant (dir. Arthur Penn), opposite Arlo Guthrie; Three Days of the Condor (dir. Sydney Pollack), opposite Robert Redford; and the award-winning indie film, Face (dir. Bertha Bay-Sa Pan), opposite Bai Ling.
Tina has guest starred on numerous TV shows and was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the CBS Playhouse special, The Final War of Olly Winter, opposite Ivan Dixon. Besides the above mentioned performers, Tina has acted alongside actors such as Max von Sydow, Anthony Quinn, Geraldine Chaplin, Burt Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Wayne Rogers, Stefanie Powers, Jan-Michael Vincent, David Janssen, Kim Basinger, David Carradine and Taylor Schilling. On stage, Tina has played leading roles in many productions on and off Broadway including Empress of China, Comfort Women, The Shanghai Gesture, The Joy Luck Club, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arthur & Leila, The Year of the Dragon, and David Henry Hwang's Family Devotions.
She has directed plays at various theaters in New York, including Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's production of Fairy Bones starring Lucy Liu in her stage debut. Tina co-produced the Broadway production of the Peter Nichols play, Passion, starring Frank Langella, and received a Drama Desk nomination as part of the producing team of the Broadway production of The Rink, by Terrence McNally, starring Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli.
Tina has a talk, Heroes of History: Legacy of My Chinese Family, with 157 pictures. It is about three generations of her mother's family and their contributions to the history of China. In the lecture, which has been presented at China Institute and Urban Stages, both in NYC, and the Mirror Rep. Co. in Greensboro, Vt., she talks about her great-grandfather, who served under three emperors and one empress in the Ching dynasty, her grandfather, who was one of the founders of the Republic of China, and her mother, who also did something special for China.
Tina is also a composer. She wrote, among other pieces, the music for the Christmas song This Tree (lyrics by Ruth Wolff), which premiered with the Hong Kong Children's Choir at its Silver Jubilee, and flute music for Pan Asian Repertory's production of Fairy Bones. Her other songs include Mother Life (lyrics by Tina), Words Never Said (lyrics by Diane Winslow), and a Hanukkah song called Eight Nights (lyrics by YiLing Chen-Josephson). The four songs, including This Tree, were presented at Mirror Rep. Co., in Greensboro, Vt., in August of 2014.
Over the course of her career, Tina has received numerous honors, including Pan Asian Repertory Theatre's 2016 Legacy Award, Urban Stages' 25th Anniversary Award for Artistic Brilliance, Women's Project's Women of Exceptional Achievement Award, Girl Scouts' Woman of Distinction Award, the Anna Mae Wong Award given by The Asian Fashion Designers of LA, and Azn Americans Actress of the Week Award on Twitter.
While pursuing her show business career, Tina worked for over a decade as a researcher in the Serology & Genetics department at the New York Blood Center. She also started Food Liberation, a health food store in New York City. An honorary advisor for the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Tina is also on the National Council of the Aspen Music Festival & School and volunteers for Lighthouse International as a reader for the sight impaired.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 Febuary 1973)
Su Yen Lu - Actor
- Editorial Department
- Editor
Brandon Cruz was born on 28 May 1962 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He is an actor and editor, known for The Bad News Bears (1976), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and The Lords of Salem (2012). He has been married to Elizabeth Finkelstein since 26 June 1994. They have two children.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Peter Gideon- Actor
- Soundtrack
Royal Dano was undoubtedly one of the best, most quirky and striking character actors to ever grace the big and small screen alike in a lengthy and impressive career which spanned 42 years.
Royal Edward Dano was born on November 16, 1922 in New York City, to Mary Josephine (O'Connor) and Caleb Edward Dano, a newspaper printer. He was of mostly Irish descent (his mother was an immigrant). Royal ran away from home at age twelve and lived in such states as Texas, Florida and California. He struck a deal with his father to continue his education, but still be able to travel around the country. Dano eventually attended New York University. His performing career began as part of the 44th Special Service Provisional Company during World War II. Dano soon branched out to the New York stage and made his Broadway debut with a small role in the hit musical "Finian's Rainbow." He was nominated by the New York Critic's Circle as one of the Promising Actors of 1949. Tall and lean, with a gaunt face, dark hair, a rangy build, and a very distinctive deep croaky voice, Dano was usually cast in both movies and TV shows as gloomy and/or sinister characters. He appeared most often in westerns and worked several times with James Stewart and director Anthony Mann. He made his film debut in Undercover Girl (1950). Dano's more memorable roles include the Tattered Soldier in The Red Badge of Courage (1951), a sickly bookworm bad guy in Johnny Guitar (1954), Elijah in Moby Dick (1956), Peter in King of Kings (1961), a cattle rustler in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972), a coroner in Electra Glide in Blue (1973), a profanity-spewing preacher in Big Bad Mama (1974), Ten Spot in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), a weary factory line worker in Take This Job and Shove It (1981), a lightening rod salesman in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), a caterwauling minister who showed up at the doors of newly widowed wives of test pilots, and sang "Eternal Father Strong To Save" in The Right Stuff (1983). He was a stuffy high school teacher in Teachers (1984), rascally zombie old-timer Gramps in House II: The Second Story (1987), a cantankerous farmer in Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988), and in his last part, a cemetery caretaker in George A. Romero's The Dark Half (1993). Among the numerous TV shows Dano did guest spots on are Twin Peaks (1990), Amazing Stories (1985), CHiPs (1977), Quincy M.E. (1976), Fantasy Island (1977), Little House on the Prairie (1974), Kung Fu (1972), Ben Casey (1961), Planet of the Apes (1974), Cannon (1971), Playhouse 90 (1956), Lost in Space (1965), Gunsmoke (1955), Bonanza (1959), Wagon Train (1957), The Virginian (1962), Hawaii Five-O (1968), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958), Night Gallery (1969), Route 66 (1960), The Rifleman (1958), and Rawhide (1959). Moreover, Dano did the voice of the animatronic Abraham Lincoln for Walt Disney's Hall of Presidents for both Disneyland and Disney World. Dano also portrayed Lincoln on the Omnibus (1952) television series. He's the father of actor Rick Dano. Royal Dano died at age 71 of a heart attack on May 15th, 1994.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Henry Skowrin- Tall, rangy Jim Davis spent much of his early career in westerns mainly at Republic Pictures. The Missouri-born and -raised Davis' relaxed, easygoing manner and Southern drawl easily fit most moviegoers' image of the cowboy and Republic put him in a ton of them over the years (the fact that, unlike a lot of movie cowboys, he looked right at home on a horse didn't hurt, either). He alternated between good-guy and villain roles, one of his better ones being that of the devious, murderous fur trapper working for Kirk Douglas' competition in The Big Sky (1952). He is best known, however, for his role as Ewing family patriarch Jock in the long-running TV series Dallas (1978).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Joe Walker - Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Donner was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. Robert joined the Navy after he graduated from high school and served almost 4 years. After he left the Navy he stayed on the West Coast and worked as a shipping clerk, salesman, bartender, commercial artist, gardener, and insurance investigator. Robert attended San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge), at nights taking courses in Art History, Psychology and speech. During this time, Robert Donner lived in Studio City and became friends with actor Clint Eastwood who lived in his apartment building. Clint urged Robert to study drama, telling him he was humorous and had a good face. When Robert was not acting he was active in athletics, and was known as one of Hollywood's most enthusiastic golfers. He was a member of the former "Hollywood Hackers" and carried a seven handicap and was the leader of a group of entertainment industry professionals known as Don Porter's Thursday Golf Group as well as joining others at many of the Celebrity Golf Tournaments who raise money for various charities around the world. Robert also played in many tennis tournaments and was frequently called upon during "Celebrity Nights" in which he performed stand-up comedy and promised not to sing. His reputation in this area also led him to become known as one of Hollywood's "in demand" Corporate Speakers.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Amos Houlton- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stocky, balding American character actor with a rich, deep voice, equally adept at Western bad guys and Shakespeare. He began his career in films in minor roles, primarily as gangland henchmen, and progressed to become widely familiar as a figure in a variety of dramas and occasional comedies. Although a stalwart and reliable supporting player, he was not of a type to essay leading roles in films, but remained a well-respected actor whose face, if not name, is familiar to a generation of film and television viewers.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Ed Rankin- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
This boyish-looking New York-born actor of film and (especially) TV was born in 1928 and signed by Columbia at the onset of his teen career. Also known as Donald Dubbins, he started off playing earnest young cadet types in the war films From Here to Eternity (1953) (as a young bugler) and The Caine Mutiny (1954). It was superstar James Cagney who took a distinct liking to the rookie actor and prominently displayed him in two of his subsequent films. In These Wilder Years (1956), Dubbins played Cagney's long-lost adopted son and, in the western Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), he forms an unlikely romantic triangle with cattle boss Cagney and senorita Irene Papas. He also was at the mercy of Jack Webb's title character as a private in the Dragnet-styled military film The D.I. (1957). He subsequently played a frequent suspect on several episodes of the Dragnet 1967 (1967) series. Finishing up the 1950s, he was a part of the cast in the Jules Verne sci-fi picture From the Earth to the Moon (1958).
Although Dubbins never became a box office name, he certainly was a reliable asset on TV and was seen in a host of character roles over the years, not to mention a good number of smaller parts in such films as The Prize (1963) and The Learning Tree (1969). A character player adept at both good guys and bad guys, he retired completely in the late 1980s after filming episodes of Dynasty (1981), Highway to Heaven (1984) and Knots Landing (1979). He succumbed to cancer less than a decade later in 1991 at the age of 63.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Meador- Actor
- Writer
Born in Franklin, Indiana on December 28, 1923, he was raised in Texas and went to college at Indiana University. There, on a speech and drama scholarship, he began to act and perform however this was interrupted by being called into the service. In World War II where he saw action overseas, he was befriended by actor Melvyn Douglas, who led his division. With such encouragement, as well as meeting and becoming familiar with some Broadway folks, Duggan went into acting. From 1953 onward, he was a fixture in both movies and television.
Most notably, he played General Ed Britt on 12 O'Clock High (1964), he was Cal Calhoun in Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and his most famous role as "Murdoch Lancer" in Lancer (1968) and the original John Walton opposite Patricia Neal in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971). He was "Howitzer Al Houlihan", the father of "Hotlips Houlihan" (Loretta Swit) in M*A*S*H (1972). In 1954, he wed Broadway actress Elizabeth "Betty" Logue. After their deaths, they were cremated and their ashes scattered at Lake Arrowhead, California.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Sheriff Boggs- Aimee Eccles was born on 1 January 1949 in Hong Kong. She is an actress, known for Little Big Man (1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) and Paradise Alley (1978).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Po Ten / 'Cloud Shadow' - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Ike Eisenmann was born in Houston, Texas, USA as Ike Keith Eisenmann. He is known for his work on Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), Return from Witch Mountain (1978), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and Race to Witch Mountain (2009). After retiring from his on camera career at 24 he spent the next twenty years as a partner in the ADR group The LA Maddogs providing custom voice work on over one thousand movies. He is now happily remarried and living a quiet writer's life.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Todd Lovitt- Actor
- Director
Dana Elcar was born on 10 October 1927 in Ferndale, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Sting (1973), MacGyver (1985) and 2010 (1984). He was married to Marianne Torrance, Mary Margaret "Peggy" Romano and Kathryn Frances Mead. He died on 6 June 2005 in Ventura, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Judge Todd A. Pritikin- A general utilitarian player on TV and film, Ross Elliott provided clean-cut, reliable support for over four decades. Born Elliott Blum on June 18, 1917 in New York City, Ross grew up in the Bronx and began appearing in plays while a teenage at both summer camps and in high school. He attended New York's City College upon graduation pursing both law and appearing in the college's dramatic productions. Acting won out in the long run after he received his degree in 1937.
Following variety show and summer stock work, Elliott became a member of Orson Welles Mercury Theatre and played minor parts on Broadway in "Julius Caesar" (modern version), "The Shoemaker's Holiday" and "Danton's Death." He also was a part of the notorious "War of the Worlds" broadcast on radio in 1938. He also stage toured with Welles in "Five Kings". His career was interrupted by a tour of duty in the Army. Appearing in several of their touring show, one of the better known was "This Is the Army". He would also appearing in the Warner Brothers' film version of This Is the Army (1943).
Elliott returned to professional acting following his honorable discharge and replaced Tom Ewell touring with Walter Huston in "Apple of His Eye". By 1947, he had relocated to Los Angeles and appeared in his first film The Burning Cross (1947) with a story involving the KKK. His four-decade career would include hundreds of movie and TV roles. His more visible clean-cut appearances occurred in the films Woman on the Run (1950), Hot Lead (1951), Woman in the Dark (1952), Problem Girls (1953), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Carolina Cannonball (1955), Indestructible Man (1956), Monster on the Campus (1958). Of the scores of parts he played on TV, from the dramas ("Perry Mason", "Death Valley Days", "The Adventures of Superman", "Lassie", "The Twilight Zone", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Kung Fu", "The Mod Squad", "Dallas", "Little House on the Prairie", and "The A-Team") to the comedies ("The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Leave It to Beaver", "Hazel", "Here's Lucy", "The Doris Day Show", and "Phyllis"), Ross will be forever remembered as Lucy Ricardo's director in the classic Vitameatavegamin commercial episode of I Love Lucy (1951). In other "Lucy" episodes, he played Ricky Ricardo's publicity agent. He also played Virgil Earp in several episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), appeared frequently as a straight man for Jack Benny on his long-running TV show, and played Sheriff Abbott in many segments of The Virginian (1962).
After several detours, his career waned in the 1970s and he turned to real estate. His last film was a small role in Scorpion (1986). He died of cancer at age 82 on August 12, 1999, and was cremated.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Capt. Burns - Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Emhardt looked and sounded as if he had intentionally been created by some perverse god to play villains. Though rotund, he had hooded, lizard-like eyes and a drawling whine in his voice. The real Robert Emhardt, however, was a well-educated, cultured, generous man, not at all like the characters he often portrayed.
Robert Christian Emhardt was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father was C.J. Emhardt, a lawyer, judge, and onetime mayor of the city. The younger Emhardt received his early training as an actor in the theater at Butler University. He then went to London, England, where he gained experience at The London Academy of Dramatic Art in 1937-38, and played in repertory with the British Broadcasting Company while there.
While in England, he met the woman who would become his wife, the well-known English actress Silvia Sedeli. The couple would go on to have four children. Eventually he found himself understudying Sydney Greenstreet on an American tour. He stayed in the United States, debuting on Broadway in 1942 in "The Pirate." He went on to win the Critics' Circle Award as best supporting actor in "Life with Mother" (1948-49) and appeared in eleven other plays in New York until his last in 1959. He made his film debut in The Iron Mistress (1952), a fictionalized life of Jim Bowie starring Alan Ladd. Among his other memorable movies were 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Underworld U.S.A. (1961), and The Stone Killer (1973) with Charles Bronson. His favorite and probably best film role was as Shirley Knight's paunchy and gracious but ultimately insane father in The Group (1966).
Emhardt had a busy career. He also acted in 125 summer stock productions and 250 television programs, such as Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), The Untouchables (1959), Perry Mason (1957), Bonanza (1959), and six episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). He had a recurring role on the soap opera Another World (1964).
Emhardt was extremely active in St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Santa Monica and gave a great deal of support to The Boy Scouts of America. In his spare time (Emhardt had spare time?) he followed sports and enjoyed ballet.
Robert Emhardt died due to heart failure on December 26, 1994, in Ojai, California.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Postmaster- Ron Feinberg was born on 10 October 1932 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Defenders of the Earth (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and Thunder and Lightning (1977). He was married to Diana Frothingham. He died on 29 January 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Ezekiel (as Ronald Feinberg) - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Benson Fong was born on 10 October 1916 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and The Scarlet Clue (1945). He was married to Maylia. He died on 1 August 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Hang Fei
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Soong- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination in the "Best Supporting Actress" category, marked a breakthrough in her career. In 1980 she graduated as the best of her class from the College Lycée Français and began to study English Literature at Yale University, from where she graduated magna cum laude in 1985. One tragic moment in her life was March 30th, 1981 when John Warnock Hinkley Jr. attempted to assassinate the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Hinkley was obsessed with Jodie and the movie Taxi Driver (1976), in which Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, tried to shoot presidential candidate Palantine. Despite the fact that Jodie never took acting lessons, she received two Oscars before she was thirty years of age. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in The Accused (1988) and the second one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Alethea Patricia Ingram- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
American character actor widely seen in film and television during the 1950s and '60s. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 5, 1908, to railroad agent Miller Foulk and his wife, the former Alice Casselberry, Robert Foulk attended the University of Pennsylvania as an architecture student. While in school, he became interested in theatre and by the age of 23 had made his Broadway debut as Jake Canon in "As Husbands Go." He reprised the role two years later, and supplemented his acting work by helping cast road companies of Broadway hits and by working with the press agents of various shows. He became friendly with legendary Broadway director-producer-actor George Abbott while playing Watson Brown in "John Brown," a Broadway flop about the abolitionist leader (played by Abbott). Foulk began a long period of employment under Abbott in a string of Broadway hits: "Boy Meets Girl," "Brother Rat," and "Room Service," in which Foulk understudied Eddie Albert. An encounter with Bette Davis led to Foulk's hiring by Warner Bros., not as an actor, but as a dialog director. He moved to Hollywood in 1939 and worked in that capacity on a number of films including The Sea Hawk (1940) and The Maltese Falcon (1941). In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and was assigned to make training films with the First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California. Discharged in 1946, he worked for Cecil B. DeMille as dialog director on Unconquered (1947) and then made his (non-military) film debut in Road House (1948). He quickly became a familiar face in movies, playing police officers, Western sheriffs, thugs, and many other types, often of a none-too-bright intelligence. He had recurring roles on numerous TV series including Lassie (1954), Bonanza (1959), The Rifleman (1958), Father Knows Best (1954), and as Curly Bill Brocius on Tombstone Territory (1957). Foulk continued his avocation of architecture, designing houses, including one for playwright Sam Spewack. He worked in local theatre in and around Los Angeles, though he never returned to Broadway. He was married briefly in 1933 to actress Alice Frost. He married actress Barbara Slater in 1947. They had one daughter, June Landis Foulk, born 20 July 1948. Robert Foulk died 25 February 1989.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Moss- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Victor French was the son of a stuntman. His debut was a small role in Lassie (1954), uncredited. He had his first real acting experiences in western-films, where he usually played the "bad guy" due to his rather gruff look. This changed with Little House on the Prairie (1974), (as Isaiah Edwards). In 1977, he left Little House on the Prairie (1974) to play in his own sitcom Carter Country (1977), which lasted for two seasons. French then teamed up again with Michael Landon in Highway to Heaven (1984), as (Mark Gordon). French, along with Leonard Nimoy, founded LA's "Company of Angels", one of the area's earliest attempts to establish LA as a type of "Off-Broadway-West Coast". Its limited seating arrangement (99 seats) served as the prototype of LA's Equity-Waiver code. After he left the company in the mid 1970s, he went on to teach acting privately. He was well sought-after, and it became apparent that he had to take students on "by referral only". His philosophy and style was gentle and encouraging to young actors just entering the field. He directed in LA Theaters and won the Critics Circle Award for "12 Angry Men." In the 1980s, he declined to play "bad guys." Victor French died 1989 after finishing the last episode of Highway to Heaven (1984).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Sheriff Aldon Pool- John Fujioka was born on 29 June 1925 in Olaa, Hawaii, USA. He was an actor, known for Mortal Kombat (1995), American Ninja (1985) and Pearl Harbor (2001). He died on 13 December 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Ying (as John Mamo) - Actor
- Soundtrack
Will Geer was born William Aughe Ghere in Frankfort, Indiana, to Katherine (Aughe), a teacher, and Roy Aaron Ghere, a postal worker. Will admired his grandfather, a man who said hello to trees by their Latin names and who had used what he brought back to Indiana from the California gold rush to build Frankfort's first opera house. Will pursued a college major in botany, from Chicago through a Master's degree at Columbia, but ultimately gave in to his need to perform. Starting with touring company tent shows and river boats, his six-decade career included Broadway, movies, television; many Shakespeare roles; one-man performances as Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. His best known role was his last, Zebulon Walton, grandpa in the long-running television series The Waltons (1972). Less well-known was his life-long role as a political agitator and radical ("Someone who goes to the roots, which is the Latin derivation of radical") and folklorist/folksinger - he toured U.S. government work camps in the 1930s, singing with Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives. He was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. In 1951, he formed the "Theatricum Botanicum," a repertory theater in Topanga Canyon, California, where he not only coached actors but also encouraged outdoor philosophical discussion and, of course, folksinging. At his deathbed, his family sang "This Land Is Your Land" and recited Robert Frost poems. His ashes lie in a corner of the Shakespearean garden on the grounds of his Theatricum Botanicum.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Judge Emmitt Marcus- Actor
- Soundtrack
Actor, author, and musician Chief Dan George was born in present-day North Vancouver as Geswanouth Slahoot (later anglicized as 'Dan Slaholt'), the son of a tribal chief on Burrard Indian Reserve Nº. 3. He is the only Aboriginal actor in Canadian history to date with the right to use the title "Chief", serving as leader of the Squamish First Nation of Burrard Inlet from 1951-63, and retained the honorary title after his term ended. His last name was changed to George when at age 5 he entered a mission boarding school where the use of his native language was discouraged, if not forbidden.
Until 1959, he had worked as a longshoreman, logger, bus driver, and itinerant musician. After spending much of his early life as a longshoreman, a construction worker, and a school-bus driver, Chief Dan George auditioned for the role of Ol' Antoine on Cariboo Country (1960), a CBC series, and won the part. He made his screen debut at age 65. On the strength of his performance in the series, and after playing the same part in Smith! (1969), a Disney adaptation of one of the show's episodes based on "Breaking Smith's Quarterhorse", a novella by Paul St. Pierre, and starring Glenn Ford, he was asked to play "Old Lodge Skins" in Little Big Man (1970). This role led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1970. He continued to appear in films and became an accomplished stage actor. He died in 1981 on the same Indian reserve where he was born in North Vancouver at age 82.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Ancient Warrior- Actress
- Soundtrack
Virginia Gregg was born on 6 March 1916 in Harrisburg, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Operation Petticoat (1959), Police Story (1973) and Crime in the Streets (1956). She was married to Jaime Del Valle. She died on 15 September 1986 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Martha- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Ideal for playing swarthy villains, James Griffith's tall, dark and gaunt features and shady countenance invaded hundreds of film and TV dramas (and a few comedies) throughout his career on-camera. Highlighted by his arched brows, hooded eyes and prominent proboscis, heavy character work would be his largest source of income for nearly four decades.
He was born James J. Griffith, of Welsh ancestry, on February 13, 1916, in Los Angeles. He and sister Dorothy were raised in the Santa Monica area. An early interest in music led to his learning to play several instruments, including the clarinet and saxophone. He got his first taste of entertaining audiences by performing in local bands while arranging music for them as well. An interest in acting came about participating in school plays and continued when he found parts to play in small theatre houses in such productions as "They Can't Get You Down" in 1939.
Unable to consistently pay the bills, however, Griffith found steadier work at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica. Enlisting in the Marine Corps. in 1941, he served his country until 1947. Eventually married with a newborn, a chance meeting with bandleader Spike Jones while working as a gas station attendant led to a six month traveling gig with Jones' City Slicker Band playing tenor saxophone.
Griffith finally broke into "B" films with a smarmy but showy role as an insurance agent in the murder drama Blonde Ice (1948). He continued to sniff out work in both drama and occasional comedy usually as unsympathetic or shady characters, sometimes billed and sometimes not. Some of his bigger, noteworthy parts in the early years came with the pictures Alaska Patrol (1949), Indian Territory (1950) and Double Deal (1950). He also took on some famous and infamous figures of history as in Fighting Man of the Plains (1949) (as William Quantrill), Day of Triumph (1954) (as Judas Iscariot), Jesse James vs. the Daltons (1954) (as outlaw Bob Dalton), The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954) (as Pat Garrett), and Masterson of Kansas (1954) as Doc Holliday. He provided the voice of Abraham Lincoln in the Rod Cameron western Stage to Tucson (1950).
TV took much of the mustachioed actor's time from the 1950s on, notably in westerns such as "The Lone Ranger," "Annie Oakley," "Gunsmoke," "The Big Valley," "Bonanza," "Death Valley Days," "The Gene Autry Show," "Wagon Train," "Rawhide," "Maverick," "Little House on the Prairie," "B.J. and the Bear" and "Dallas." Elsewhere on the small screen he played cold-hearted villains twice on "Batman" in support of the nefarious Ma Parker and Catwoman. Not to be pegged in just oaters, he also appeared in less dusty TV fare such as "The Streets of San Francisco," "Fantasy Island" and Emergency!" Griffith made his final acting appearance on a 1984 "Trapper John" episode.
A gifted raconteur, his later years were spent writing theatre plays and movie scripts, and attending film festivals. Two of his earlier movie scripts that found releases were Russ Meyer's Lorna (1964) (in which he also appeared), Shalako (1968) and Catlow (1971). Griffith died of cancer on September 17, 1993, at age 77.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Joe Purdy- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Clu Gulager was born William Martin Gulager in Holdenville, Hughes County, Oklahoma. His nickname was given to him by his father for the clu-clu birds (known in English as martins, like his middle name) that were nesting at the Gulager home at the time Clu was born. He grew up on his uncle's ranch as a cowhand and when he was old enough he joined the United States Marine Corps for a stint from 1946-1948. He got the acting bug being in army plays so when he left he used the GI Bill of Rights to study acting. During this time he met his wife, actress Miriam Byrd-Nethery. They wed in 1952 and had two children: John (born 1957) and Tom (born 1965) The couple was married for more than 50 years until her death in 2003 from cancer.
Gulager's career started off as bit parts on popular western shows usually playing the heavy. Shows like Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Laramie, Riverboat. He scored big with The Untouchables as "Mad Dog Coll", which led to him being offered the role of "Billy the Kid" on The Tall Man from 1960-1962, which also starred Barry Sullivan as "Pat Garrett". The show was pulled after two seasons reportedly because the powers that were didn't like kids seeing Billy the Kid as a hero.
His next big break was playing Deputy Emmett Ryker on The Virginian from 1964-1968. During this time he also fared very well as Lee Marvin's sidekick in the 1964 TV film The Killers, which was considered too violent for TV so it went to theaters. Having being burned out being a TV star he tried to break into films, mostly as a character actor. His stand out films were The Last Picture Show (1971, playing Ellen Burstyn's lover), McQ (1974) with John Wayne, and A Force of One (1979) with Chuck Norris, with whom he would later work in the 1990s on Walker, Texas Ranger.
Gulager was also cast in San Francisco International Airport, with Lloyd Bridges, which failed big time. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he was in almost every show around, playing bit parts. Then the unthinkable happened: he found a second career as a horror film actor; he followed the footsteps of other TV actors who were stuck in TV hell, like Doug McClure (his costar from The Virginian) and Christopher George. Both men found new careers in B-movies and late night horror films. Gulager finally got a lead part in Dan O'Bannon's cult classic The Return of the Living Dead (1985). He also was in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985).
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in TV and in the occasional horror flick. In 2005 he started acting in his son's horror films -- the Feasts movies and Piranha DD in his 80s. Not letting age get in his way, he was a horror fan favorite and still showed up at conventions at almost 90.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Sheriff Rutledge- Moses Gunn was born on 2 October 1929 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Shaft (1971), Rollerball (1975) and Heartbreak Ridge (1986). He was married to Gwendolyn Mumma Landes. He died on 16 December 1993 in Guilford, Connecticut, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Isaac Montola - Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rough-and-tumble character actor Ross Hagen was born Leland Lando Lilly on May 21, 1938, in Williams, AZ, the son of Lando Irvin Lilly and Mary Alice Johnson. Handsome and rugged, with a highly distinctive deep gravelly voice and a commandingly raw masculine screen presence, Ross was frequently cast as charming and likable tough guys on both sides of the law in a colorful and eclectic array of films and TV shows.
Hagen began his acting career in the mid-'60s doing guest spots on various television programs before crossing over into exploitation theatrical features with leading roles in the biker flicks The Hellcats (1968), The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968) and Five the Hard Way (1969). Hagen's most memorable movie roles include smooth insurance agent Mike Harber in Wonder Women (1973), bumbling former coal miner turned wannabe mobster Charlie Jacobs in Bad Charleston Charlie (1973), vicious hitman Ray Mitchell in Avenging Angel (1985), backstabbing con artist Cory Thorton in Armed Response (1986), all-girl baseball team owner Midnight in Blood Games (1990), hard-nosed Army Capt. Jason Briggs in _Dinosaur Island (1989)_ (qv_, a skeptical sheriff in _Sideshow (1988)_ and private investigator Elwood Dick in Murder on the Yellow Brick Road (2005). Among the TV series he has guest-starred on are The Virginian (1962), The Big Valley (1965), The Fugitive (1963), The Invaders (1967), Daktari (1966) Bonanza (1959), Gunsmoke (1955), Mannix (1967), Kung Fu (1972), Mission: Impossible (1966), Cannon (1971), The Wild Wild West (1965) and The Fall Guy (1981). He acted in almost 20 pictures for director Fred Olen Ray. His wife Claire Polan acted in a few movies with Hagen (the couple also briefly ran an acting school). In addition to acting, Hagen directed seven films (which include the immensely enjoyable action oddity The Glove (1979) and the not half bad medical thriller B.O.R.N. (1989)), and he either co-produced and/or co-wrote a handful of features.
Ross died from cancer at age 72 on May 7, 2011.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Herman Skowrin- Actor
- Soundtrack
Fearsome looking, bald headed and usually mustachioed character actor, born Donald J. Stansauk on 2nd April 1925, in Los Angeles, California. However, after playing pro football with the Detroit Lions & Green Pay Packers, Stansauk became a professional wrestler and changed his name to H.B Haggerty (the H.B. stood for "Hard Boiled"!)
Haggerty wrestled in the AWA for many years, and at one time shared the Tag Team Championship Belt with fellow wrestler, later turned actor, Lenny Montana.
With his physical size and imposing looks, Haggerty usually played thugs, gangsters and other shady villains. Probably, most well known for his appearance as the menacing wrestler "Billy Kiss" slugging it out with a young Jackie Chan in Battle Creek Brawl (1980). He died on January 27th, 2004 as the result of a stroke.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Husky Miner- Tim Haldeman is a true "Hollywood Kid" having grown up in and around show business in North Hollywood, California. Tim's dad was a production manager for motion pictures and TV and his aunt was the head script supervisor for 20th Century Fox Studios for 39 years. Tim was the first one in the family to decide on a career in front of the cameras. Since graduating from UCLA, Tim has worked in all aspects of performing and acting. He has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for over 35 years. Tim has appeared as an actor in well over 130 television shows and movies and over 150 commercials. Being an avid golfer, one of Tim's favorite commercials was playing a golfer from the past in the first Buick commercial with Tiger Woods. You might also remember him as the "Good to Go" dad for Taco Bell.
Just some of the TV shows Tim has been on over the years are Murphy Brown, Golden Girls, Family Ties, Fresh Prince of Belaire, 90210, Empty Nest, and Macgyver. You saw Tim play 'Elliot Blair', the millionaire industrialist who dies in the helicopter crash in Universal's Dante's Peak. Tim had recurring roles as "Officer Barker" on The Drew Carey Show and "Mr. Kraft" on 3rd Rock From The Sun and the NBC soap Passions and Skin for Fox Television. He also guest starred on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, ER and Cold Case. He has co-starred in episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, and The West Wing, and recently in Scrubs, House and the TNT series Heartland. You also saw Tim as a very tired dentist in a commercial for the new PepsiMax. This last year you saw Tim co-starring on Without A Trace, and Eleventh Hour. This coming season you can see Tim co-starring as a flustered dad in the new cop drama for NBC, Southland. Tim is also writing, producing and directing an Internet series for his wife Wendy's baby business (The Pump Station & Nurtury) called Mommie Matters which can be seen at www.pumpstation.com. Tim can be seen hosting episodes with helpful tips for new Moms and Dads.
In the last ten years, Tim has turned his energies to on stage performing as a stand-up comedian. Tim has performed a solid stand-up act all over the country in several different venues. He has been in demand to perform as Host/MC or Featured act at over 25 charity golf tournaments including The Coastal Classic in Wilmington NC, the Children's Charity Classic in Lexington KY, the Mercy Celebrity Classic in Fort Smith AR, and the Inner City Games Classic in San Diego. Tim has also been busy performing at comedy clubs such as the Coach House in Carlsbad CA, Jack Didley's in Kennewick WA, The Pechanga Comedy Club at the Pechanga Casino Resort in Temecula CA, The Comedy Club at The River Palms casino resort in Laughlin NV as well as the Comedy Club at the Palace Station in Las Vegas. He has been a recurring Host/MC or a Featured act at the much acclaimed and long running "Comedy On The Coast" concerts at Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, OR.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Second Vigilante - Actor
- Producer
- Director
Born in Santa Monica, California, USA, Richard Hatch was studying classical piano at the age of eight, and knew he wanted to carve out a career as a performer before he reached his teens. After attending Harbor College in San Pedro, he joined a Los Angeles repertory company with which he traveled to New York City in 1967. He performed in the plays "Song of Walt Whitman", "Young Rebels" and a production called "Exercise", which Richard directed. Richard was cast as the original "Philip Brent" in the soap All My Children (1970) in 1970. He later played "Inspector Dan Robbins" on the television series The Streets of San Francisco (1972). Richard Hatch is best remembered for his portrayal of "Apollo" on the series, Battlestar Galactica (1978).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
David Binns (as Richard Lawrence Hatch)- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Pat Hingle (real name: Martin Patterson Hingle) was born in Miami, Florida, the son of a building contractor. His parents divorced when Hingle was still in his infancy (he never knew his father) and his mother supported the family by teaching school in Denver. She then began to travel (with her son in tow) in search of more lucrative work; by age 13 Hingle had lived in a dozen cities. The future Tony Award nominee made his "acting debut" in the third grade, playing a carrot in a school play ("At that time it didn't seem like much of a way to make a living!", he recalled). Hingle attended high school in Texas and in 1941 entered the University of Texas, majoring in advertising. After serving in the Navy during WW II, he went back to the university and got involved with the drama department as a way to meet girls. With his wife Alyce (whom he first met at the university), Hingle moved to New York and began to get jobs on the stage and on TV. The apex of his stage career was "J.B." by poet Archibald Macleish, with Hingle in the title role as a 20th-century Job. It was during the run of "J.B." that Hingle took an accidental plunge down the elevator shaft of his New York apartment building, sustaining near-fatal injuries in the 54-foot fall. He was near death for two weeks (and lost the little finger of his left hand); his recovery took more than a year. In more recent years, Hingle has played Commissioner Gordon in the "Batman" movies.
Just prior to his death, he resided in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, with his wife, Julia.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
General Thoms- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
James Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He studied civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, but at some point along the way became interested in acting. He graduated from the University of Southern California and practiced for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los Angeles. He took sick leaves and vacation time to do films. He finally quit engineering to focus on acting full time.
He is one of the founders of the East-West Players, the oldest Asian American theater in Los Angeles. He served as president and charter member of the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists.
Hong is one of the most prolific and well-recognized Asian-American character actors of movies and television. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is planning to produce and direct his own films.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Hslang
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Old Man (uncredited)- Actor
- Additional Crew
Robert Ito is a Canadian-born actor and dancer of Japanese parentage (Nisei). At the age of five, he won his first amateur tap dancing contest. As "little Bobby Ito", he performed for several more years in singing competitions and talent revues. In adulthood, Ito spent the first decade of his professional career as a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada. He moved to New York in 1960 to appear on Broadway in the dancing ensemble of Flower Drum Song, and, a decade later, acted several parts in the operetta Candide.
In Hollywood from 1965, Ito has been a prolific supporting player in episodic television, usually playing characters of Asian ethnicity in shows like Ironside (1967), Kung Fu (1972), Mannix (1967) and The X-Files (1993). In the 70's, he became familiar to a wider audience for his regular role as Sam Fujiyama, the clever forensic lab technician and faithful offsider of Quincy M.E. (1976) (played by Jack Klugman). He appeared twice in M*A*S*H (1972), respectively as a North Korean soldier and as a black marketeer. Ito played Lieutenant Chang, an officer at Starfleet Academy, in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Harry Kim's father John in Star Trek: Voyager (1995). On the big screen, he portrayed Commander Minoru Genda (1904-1989) of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the World War II blockbuster Midway (1976). In 1996, Ito was nominated for a Gemini Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the telemovie Trial at Fortitude Bay (1994).
Since 1985, he has been prolific as a voice actor for diverse animated series, covering pretty much anything from Rambo (1986) to the The Smurfs (1981), from The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (1995) to Justice League (2001) and Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Fong- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dean Jagger was born in Lima, Ohio, on November 7, 1903. He dropped out of high school twice before finally graduating from Wabash College. Working first as a school teacher, he soon became interested in acting and enrolled at Chicago's "Lyceum Art Conservatory". Mr. Jagger made his first movie and only silent film, The Woman from Hell (1929) in 1929, starring Mary Astor. During 1929 he also appeared in the film Handcuffed (1929). He quickly found his niche as a character actor and the highlight of his career was winning an Oscar for "Best Supporting Actor," in the 1949 movie Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Dean played Principal Albert Vane on TV for the 1963-1964 season of Mr. Novak (1963). Dean Jagger died in Santa Monica, California, on February 5, 1991.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Henry Raphael Caine- Actor
- Producer
- Cinematographer
Excellent, prolific and versatile character actor Peter Jason was born on July 22, 1944, in Hollywood, CA, and grew up in Balboa. He attended Newport Beach Elementary School, Horace Ensign Junior High and Newport Harbor High School. He originally planned on being a football player, but fell in love with acting after playing the lead in a high school production of "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Following his high school graduation he attended Orange Coast Junior College and did a season of summer stock at the Peterborough Playhouse in New Hampshire. He then studied as a drama major at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, PA. More stage work followed with the acting group the South Coast Repertory Company. He made his film debut in Howard Hawks' final film, Rio Lobo (1970) (which Jason says is one of his favorites).
He worked with Orson Welles on the uncompleted The Other Side of the Wind (2018) as an actor, boom operator, prop man and even cook for the cast and crew.
Jason has appeared in many films for director Walter Hill; he's especially memorable as the racist redneck bartender in 48 Hrs. (1982). He has also appeared in many films for director John Carpenter: he's very engaging as the jolly Dr. Paul Leahy in Prince of Darkness (1987) and was terrific as underground guerrilla army leader Gilbert in They Live (1988).
Other notable roles include a sinister government agent in Dreamscape (1984), rugged Maj. G.F. Devin in Clint Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge (1986), jerky detective Fedorchuk in Alien Nation (1988), a newspaper reporter in Seabiscuit (2003) and the U.S. president in Alien Apocalypse (2005).
Jason recently had a recurring role as dissolute gambler Con Stapleton in the superbly gritty cable Western TV series Deadwood (2004). He also had a regular part as Capt. Skip Gleason on Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997).
Among the many TV shows Peter has done guest spots on are Desperate Housewives (2004), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), Nash Bridges (1996), Coach (1989), The Golden Girls (1985), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Married... with Children (1987), Roseanne (1988), Dear John (1988), Quantum Leap (1989), Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), B.J. and the Bear (1978), The Incredible Hulk (1978), Gunsmoke (1955) and Hawaii Five-O (1968). In addition to his substantial film and TV show credits, Jason has acted in over 150 plays and hundreds of TV commercials. An accomplished baritone vocalist, Jason has sung in such musical stage productions as "The Music Man" (this is one of his favorite plays), "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off," "The Roar of the Greasepaint" and "Threepenny Opera" (as Mack the Knife). He's been married to his wife Eileen for 33 years.
In his spare time he makes his own furniture with found, recycled wood.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Lordsville Town Member (uncredited)- Actor
- Stunts
Roy Jenson was born on 9 February 1927 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was an actor, known for Chinatown (1974), Soylent Green (1973) and Every Which Way But Loose (1978). He was married to Marina Petrova and Barbara Ann Dionysius. He died on 24 April 2007 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Fuller
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Rupp- Actor
- Producer
- Director
This tall, sandy-haired, mustachioed actor from Texas, born Justus McQueen, adopted the name of the character he portrayed in his first film, Battle Cry (1955). Jones, with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty of WWII films including The Young Lions (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Hell Is for Heroes (1962) and Battle of the Coral Sea (1959). However, 1962 saw him team up with maverick director Sam Peckinpah for the first of Jones' five appearances in his films. Ride the High Country (1962) saw Jones play one of the lowlife Hammond brothers. Next he appeared alongside Charlton Heston in Major Dundee (1965), then Peckinpah cast him, along with his real-life friend Strother Martin, as one of the scummy, murderous bounty hunters in The Wild Bunch (1969). Such was the chemistry between Jones and Martin that Peckinpah teamed them again the following year in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Jones' final appearance in a Peckinpah film was in another western, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). Two years later Jones directed the cult post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog (1975) starring a young Don Johnson. He has continued to work in Hollywood, and as the lines on his craggy face have deepened, he turns up more frequently as crusty old westerners, especially in multiple TV guest spots. He turned in an interesting performance as a seemingly good ol' boy Nevada cowboy who was actually a powerful behind-the-scenes player in state politics who leaned on Robert De Niro's Las Vegas mob gambler in Martin Scorsese's violent and powerful Casino (1995).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Sgt. Straight- Actor
- Director
- Writer
William Katt was born in Los Angeles, California, USA as William Theodore Katt. He is the son of actress Barbara Hale and actor Bill Williams. He is an actor and director, known for Big Wednesday (1978), The Greatest American Hero (1981), Carrie (1976) and The Man from Earth (2007). He has been married to Danielle Hirsch since April 10, 1993. They have two children. He was previously married to Deborah Kahane.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Andy (as Bill Katt)- British-born Don Knight studied for the Ordained Ministry in Montreal and in Washington D.C.
With his young family, he moved to California in 1965. While pursuing his acting career, he continued to serve churches. Don was the proud father of two (a daughter and a son) from his first marriage. He was best known for his "cold killer" roles but enjoyed playing likable characters as well.
In addition to being nominated for Emmy Awards for some of his television roles, Knight also won awards for his stage performances.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Hap Darrow - Actor
- Producer
- Executive
Clyde Kusatsu was born on 13 September 1948 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Paradise Road (1997), The Interpreter (2005) and Midway (1976). He has been married to Gayle Shuffler since 29 August 1976. They have two children.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Ying's Son (uncredited)- Norman Leavitt was born on 1 December 1913 in Lansing, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Off Limits (1952), Trackdown (1957) and Bonanza (1959). He was married to Irene Nelson and Emily A Kipp. He died on 11 December 2005 in Solvang, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Burt Proctor (uncredited) - Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Dana Lee was born in a village outside of Guanzhou (Canton) China. His family immigrated to the U.S. when he was seven and settled in Houston, Texas. As one of a handful of Chinese-Americans living in segregated Houston, Dana was exposed to both the White and Black communities from an early age. His father had a grocery store in the fifth ward, a Black neighborhood, and their home was located in Denver Harbor, a poor White section of town. Growing up shy all of his childhood, Dana took acting classes at Stephen F. Austin High School to overcome it. He immediately fell in love with acting and eventually became an all-city actor. To this day, Dana has never forgotten what his high school acting coach, Mr. Jerry Long, told him: "A good actor can transcend race, ethnicity, and color." Immediately after graduating from high school, Dana made a beeline to Los Angeles. But, because of his parent's disapproval of acting, it was not until many years later that he went headlong into the "biz." In the intervening years, Dana joined the Marine Corps Reserve and got his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. Dana credits Jerry Thorpe with giving him his entry into SAG with a role on "Kung Fu" and Stephen J. Cannell for giving him a career in TV, appearing in many of Cannell's shows. He is also grateful to Sylvester Stallone for the opportunity to work with him in "Rambo: First Blood, Part II." In addition to his prolific film and TV career, Dana has also been active on stage. He has performed at such prestigious venues as The Public Theatre in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and The Doolittle and The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. He has acted in classics by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Chekhov and in modern plays by Miller, Albee, and Shepard. For many years, Dana was a major driving force at East-West Players, America's most renowned Asian-American theatre. Among his most memorable stage works was playing George to Nancy Kwan's Martha in The Singapore Repertory Theatre's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and Dr. Rank to Shabana Azmi's Nora, in "Nora," Ingmar Bergman's translation/adaptation of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," also at SRT. Dana is a distinguished theatre director, too, having won many awards for directing. Dana is married to his college sweetheart, Michele. They have two beautiful daughters. Their eldest, Jennifer, is a physical therapist, and the youngest, Danielle is graduating with a Master's Degree in production design from AFI. In 2002, Dana won the Award of Excellence at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival. He was also recognized for his acting achievements by the Chinese-American Society of Los Angeles.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
First Henchman (uncredited)- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Talented and highly capable character actor Geoffrey Lewis, with rustic (sometimes sour-faced) looks, grew up in Rhode Island but was moved out to California at the age of ten. Lewis was very keen on the dramatic arts at high school, but often preferred to put on his own one-man shows rather than participate in larger school productions. His drama teacher took note of his growing talent and referred him to the Plymouth Theater in Massachusetts, where he appeared in summer stock. Afterwards he appeared in several off-Broadway productions in New York City. After spending considerable time traveling, in both the United States and abroad, Lewis turned his attention back to his love of the dramatic arts, and scored his first minor movie role in The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972) as a somewhat jovial but deadly cowhand. He then cropped up as gangster Harry Pierpont in Dillinger (1973) before beginning a long association with Clint Eastwood, starting off with High Plains Drifter (1973), then as kind-hearted thief Eddie Goody in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), as Clint's buddy Orville Boggs in Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980), then as a henpecked husband in Bronco Billy (1980), as Ricky Z in Pink Cadillac (1989), and in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) also as patient Michael Kahn in Disturbed (1990).
Equally busy on the small screen, he has guest-starred in dozens of episodes of high profile TV series. Additionally, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the series Flo (1980). Apart from his extensive film and TV exposure, Lewis is also a member of the rather unique musical/storytelling "Celestial Navigations," along with award-winning composer songwriter Geoff Levin. Their performances have received terrific reviews from some of Hollywood's top actors and noted musicians, including Chick Corea. As Geoffrey Lewis approaches his seventh decade, nothing seems likely to slow down this multi-talented actor, storyteller and engaging entertainer!Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Johnson- Kathleen Lloyd was born on 13 September 1948 in Santa Clara, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Car (1977), The Missouri Breaks (1976) and Equal Justice (1990). She is married to John Steven Mansfield . She was previously married to Peter Joseph Jenvay.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Livvy McKenzie (as Kathleen Gackle) - Actor
- Director
William Lucking was born on 17 June 1941 in Vicksburg, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Red Dragon (2002), The World's Fastest Indian (2005) and Contraband (2012). He was married to Sigrid Insull and Mary Carolyn Linda Elizabeth "MiMi" Hawkins. He died on 18 October 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Quade (as Bill Lucking)- If ever there was an actor born to play a tough Irish cop, it was Ken Lynch, and he played so many of them in his long career that he could probably do it in his sleep. His suspicious manner, aggressive attitude, steely eyes and snarling voice broke down many a quavering suspect. He also played military officers, business executives and private eyes, and every so often he'd be a sheriff in a western, but it was as a street cop or detective that most people remember him.
Born in Albany, NY, he started his acting career in radio dramas, and after gaining experience there he headed to Los Angeles, making his film debut in 1950. He appeared in quite a few movies over his career, but he also did an enormous amount of television work, and that's where most probably remember seeing him, as he turned up on pretty much every cop show, detective show and private-eye series ever made (he even showed up in an episode of the Jackie Gleason comedy series The Honeymooners (1955)--as a tough Irish detective!).
He died in 1990 in Burbank, CA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Percy McCoy - Actor
- Production Designer
- Soundtrack
Born in Japan, Makoto Iwamatsu was living there with his grandparents while his parents studied art in the United States, when Japan and the U.S. went to war in 1941. His parents remained in the U.S., working for the Office of War Information, and, at the cessation of the conflict, were granted U.S. residency by Congress. "Mako", as he became known, joined his parents in New York and studied architecture.
He entered the U.S. Army in the early 1950s and acted in shows for military personnel, discovering a talent and love for the theatre. He abandoned his plans to become an architect and instead enrolled at the famed Pasadena Community Playhouse. Following his studies there, he appeared in many stage productions and on television. In 1966, he won an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his first film role, as the coolie "Po-Han" in The Sand Pebbles (1966). He worked steadily in feature films since.
He appeared on Broadway in the leading role in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and co-founded and served as artistic director for the highly-acclaimed East-West Players theatre company in Los Angeles.
Following a long battle with cancer, Mako passed away on July 21, 2006, at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife, Shizuko Hoshi (who co-starred in episodes of M*A*S*H (1972)) as well, and his children and grandchildren.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 Febuary 1973)
Wong Ti Lu- Actor
- Soundtrack
Sean Marshall was born on 19 June 1965 in Canoga Park, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Pete's Dragon (1977), The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove (1979) and The Fitzpatricks (1977).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Abel Lovitt- Actor
- Soundtrack
Kiel Martin was born on 26 July 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Hill Street Blues (1981), The Panic in Needle Park (1971) and The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985). He was married to Joanne Marie Lapomarda, Christina Montoya and Claudia Martin. He died on 28 December 1990 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Marshal- Actor
- Additional Crew
With an intimidating face like craggy granite and a towering 6'5" solid frame, Mike Mazurki (born Mikhail Mazuruski or Mikhail Mazurkiewicz) was one of cinema's first serial thugs and specialized in playing strongarm men, gangsters and bullies for over 50 years on screen. Nearly always portrayed as a lowbrow muscle, in real life Mazurski was highly intelligent, very well read and a witty conversationalist. He was also an accomplished sportsman, having been a football player and a professional wrestler. He first appeared onscreen in uncredited roles in films such as Gentleman Jim (1942) and About Face (1942); however, his daunting bruiser looks were soon noticed and he became phenomenally busy in the 1940s, appearing in nearly 50 movies during the decade, including his well remembered performance as ex-con "Moose Malloy" in the film noir thriller Murder, My Sweet (1944) and as the gruesome "Splitface" in Dick Tracy (1945).
He continued his menacing onscreen presence throughout the 1950s and 1960s, often showing he could be quite adept at deadpan comedy in films including Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood (1945), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Donovan's Reef (1963) and The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967). Demand for his talents slowed down in the late 1970s and most of the 1980s, as younger villains came to the fore; however, he still turned up in support roles and was still acting at the age of 83 when he passed away in December, 1990.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Hannibal- Actor
- Special Effects
- Producer
Ed Nelson was aiming for a career in the legal profession until he caught the acting bug during his second year of college. In 1952, he headed off to New York City, where he studied direction and production at the School of Radio Technique. He returned to his native New Orleans where he worked as an assistant director at WDSU-TV; he also narrated (and sometimes wrote) episodes of the New Orleans-made TV series N.O.P.D. (1955) with Stacy Harris. Nelson made the acquaintance of Roger Corman when the maverick movie-maker came to Louisiana to shoot the feature Swamp Women (1956); Nelson says he did "everything" on the picture, from playing a part and working as a location manager to wrestling an alligator(!). Nelson worked in many other Corman movies on Corman's Hollywood home turf, including Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), where Nelson played the crab. In later years, Nelson became one of TV's hottest stars via the nighttime soap opera Peyton Place (1964).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Sheriff Walter Raha- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Sheree North was born on 17 January 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Breakout (1975), Lawman (1971) and The Shootist (1976). She was married to Phillip Alan Norman, Dr. Gerhardt Ralph Sommer, John M. "Bud" Freeman and Frederick Arnold Bessire Jr.. She died on 4 November 2005 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Noreen Gallagher- Actor
- Soundtrack
A 1960s pioneer of Asian-American theatre, Soon Tek Oh (aka Sun-Taek Oh, Soon-Tek Oh or Soon-Taik Oh) was born on June 29, 1932, in Mokpo, Korea at the time the country was under Imperial Japanese rule. He attended high school at Gwangju, South Korea, and went on to study at Yonsei University in Seoul. His family (including one sister) moved to the United States in 1959, where they settled in Southern California.
Oh studied at USC before attending UCLA and receiving his Masters of Fine Arts in acting and playwriting. Trained in performance at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, his mounting of a California production of "Rashomon" led to his co-founding (along with fellow actors Mako, James Hong , Beulah Quo and five others) of the renowned Los Angeles' East West Players theatre company in 1965.
Breaking into TV that same year with a minor role on "I Spy," Oh resolved to work against the restrictive servile Asian stereotypes he found himself playing on such 60s TV programs as "The Wild, Wild West," "The Invaders" and "It Takes a Thief." Via the stage, he strove to broaden the types of roles available, which included other theatre troupes he founded or guided (i.e., Korean American Theatre Ensemble). As such, his companies went on to produce a variety of plays from Ibsen ("A Doll's House") and Shakespeare ("Twelfth Night") to Tony-winning vehicles ("Pippin," "Equus, "Sweeney Todd") to original contemporary pieces, several written by Oh himself.
Following unbilled parts as secret agent types in such films as Murderers' Row (1966) and The President's Analyst (1967), he achieve a degree of notoriety in the James Bond feature The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) as Lt. Hip, an intelligence operative. He continued sporadically in films with featured parts in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), The Final Countdown (1980), Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), Steele Justice (1987), Bialy smok (1987), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), Collision Course (1989), A Home of Our Own (1993), Red Sun Rising (1994), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), Yellow (1997) (the first film by and featuring Korean-Americans) and gave voice to Fa Zhou, the father, in the Disney animated classic Mulan (1998). TV roles continued to come his way with several episodes of "Kung Fu," "Hawaii Five-0," "M*A*S*H" and "Magnum P.I.,, as well as a recurring part as a lieutenant on Charlie's Angels (1976) and the quality mini-series East of Eden (1981) and Marco Polo (1982).
Oh and Mako both made their Broadway debuts in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures" in 1976. His later stage performances include "The Woman Warrior (1994) and "The Square" (2000). He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 by the San Diego Asian Film Festival.
Making his last on-camera appearance featured in the action film Gang-jeok (2006), Oh was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and forced to retire. He died of complications in Los Angeles, on April 4, 2018, at age 85.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Kwan Chen (as Soon-Taik Oh)- Merlin Olsen was born on 15 September 1940 in Logan, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Mitchell (1975), The Undefeated (1969) and Fathers and Sons (1986). He was married to Susan Wakely. He died on 11 March 2010 in Duarte, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Perlee Skowrin - Parfrey was born Sydney Woodrow Parfrey in New York City, New York, to Hazel (James) and Sidney Parfrey, both Welsh immigrants. One of the most interesting character actors to emerge on American film and television in the 1960s, Parfrey brought a quirky charisma to every role he played, from shopkeepers to space-age simians. His noted turn as the unbalanced informer in Broadway's "Advise and Consent" (1961) set the standard for his offbeat, conspiratorial persona in dozens of TV and movie appearances into the 1980s. Always a supporting player receiving inconsistently deferential billing, Parfrey did manage some focal TV guest-star roles, mainly in the late sixties, and a few big A-movie parts, most notably as one of the wretched prisoners in Papillon (1973). Parfrey's association with that film's director, Franklin Schaffner, also included his bit as one of the three "See No Evil" orangutan judges in Planet of the Apes (1968) (he would don the prosthetics again for the pilot of the spinoff TV series). In addition, Parfrey also turned up in the unofficial repertory companies of both Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel. His determination to bring that edgy "something extra" to his profession lives on in his son, the "underground" publisher Adam Parfrey.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Denver Peck - Actress
- Writer
Lara Parker was born, Mary Lamar Rickey, in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Memphis. She attended Central High School in Memphis, and won a scholarship to Vassar College. At Vassar, Lara began a major in philosophy, which she completed at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), receiving her BA. She attended graduate school at the University of Iowa and completed all course work on a Masters in speech and drama.
It was during the summer when Lara was supposed to write her thesis, she acted at the Millbrook Playhouse, in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. She did 5 leading roles in 6 weeks. Rather than returning to Iowa, she decided to try her luck in New York. During only her second week in the city, she was cast as Angelique, the witch, in the daytime horror serial, Dark Shadows (1966). It was a role she held for 5 years.
It culminated with the film, Night of Dark Shadows (1971). While still in New York, Lara appeared on Broadway, in the play, "Woman is My Idea", as well as 2 off-Broadway plays: "Lulu" and "A Gun Play".
In 1972, Lara moved to Los Angeles, and began working in film and prime-time television, performing many guest starring roles, and occasionally returning to daytime television.
After retiring from acting, she changed her focus back to what her original interests were. She became a high school and college English teacher, and obtained her MFA in creative writing (from Antioch University). Parker authored four novels based on "Dark Shadows" (see book section, below).
Parker lived in California with her husband, Jim Hawkins and their daughter, Caitlin Hawkins. She died at age 84 from cancer in October 2023.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Amy Allender- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kelly Jean Peters was born on 2 July 1940 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for Little Big Man (1970), Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Quincy M.E. (1976). She was previously married to Tim McIntire.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Martha Lovitt- John Pickard was born on 25 June 1913 in Lascassas, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for True Grit (1969), The Twilight Zone (1959) and The Time Tunnel (1966). He was married to Anne Bernard McLaurine. He died on 4 August 1993 in Rutherford County, Tennessee, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Benson - Actor
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
A rather wanderlust fellow before he latched onto acting, Denver Pyle--who made a career of playing drawling, somewhat slow Southern types--was actually born in Colorado in 1920, to a farming family. He attended a university for a time but dropped out to become a drummer. When that didn't pan out he drifted from job to job, doing everything from working the oil fields in Oklahoma to the shrimp boats in Texas. In 1940 he moseyed off to Los Angeles and briefly found employment as a (somewhat unlikely) NBC page. That particular career was interrupted by World War II, and Pyle enlisted in the navy. Wounded in the battle of Guadalcanal, he received a medical discharge in 1943. Working for an aircraft plant in Los Angeles as a riveter, the rangy actor was introduced to the entertainment field after receiving a role in an amateur theater production and getting spotted by a talent scout. Training with such renowned teachers as Maria Ouspenskaya and Michael Chekhov, he made his film debut in The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947). Pyle went on to roles in hundreds of film and TV parts, bringing a touch of Western authenticity to many of his roles. A minor villain or sidekick in the early 1950s, he often received no billing. Prematurely white-haired (a family trait), he became a familiar face on episodes of Gunsmoke (1955) and Bonanza (1959) and also developed a close association with actor John Wayne, appearing in many of Wayne's later films, including The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Alamo (1960), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973). Pyle's more important movie roles came late in his career. One of his most memorable was in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) as Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, the handcuffed hostage of the duo, who spits in Bonnie's (Faye Dunaway) face after she coyly poses with him for a camera shot. He settled easily into hillbilly/mountain men types in his later years and became a household face for his crotchety presence in The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1977) and, especially, The Dukes of Hazzard (1979). He died of lung cancer at age 77.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Mayor Howard Simms- Actress
- Soundtrack
Robin Raymond was born on 4 October 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956), Rogues Gallery (1944) and Johnny Eager (1941). She died on 20 June 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Molly- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Dennis Redfield was born on 23 February 1943 in Orange, California, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Problem Child (1990), Dallas (1978) and Fatal Vision (1984). He has been married to Deirdre Berthrong since 11 April 1979. They have two children. He was previously married to Joyce Bye.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Victor- Actor
- Soundtrack
Albert Salmi was born on March 11, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish parents. After serving in the Army during WWII, he used the GI Bill to study at the Dramatic Workshop of the American Theater Wing and the prestigious Actors Studio. He became a stage actor, very soon landing on Broadway, where his role as Bo Decker in "Bus Stop" was his biggest stage success. A compromise between the stage and screen was live TV drama, in which he was cast regularly. His portrayal of Bruce Pearson in the The United States Steel Hour (1953)'s live 1956 broadcast of "Bang the Drum Slowly" was heart-tuggingly poignant. Salmi's very first film appearance was a choice role in The Brothers Karamazov (1958), for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. The National Board of Review succeeded in presenting him with its award for the same picture, however. Salmi came to enjoy film work and actively sought out parts in westerns. He became a very familiar presence, especially on the TV screen, where he guest starred in many of the westerns and other series of the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1967 he was presented with the Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his role in the Gunsmoke (1955) episode entitled "Death Watch". This bronze cowboy on horseback became his most cherished award. Salmi demonstrated his versatility, however, as years went on. Tall, brawny and sometimes quite intimidating, he was often cast as the bad guy or the authority figure. He was equally convincing, though, as a wronged or misunderstood good guy or a good-natured sidekick. A method actor, Salmi had the ability to make you love or hate his character.
He was, in real life, quite different from most of the characters he played. A quiet-natured family man, he was an oddity by glitzy Hollywood standards. Many of his friends and co-stars have commented on his sense of humor and his lack of pretense. In semi-retirement, he shared his knowledge of theatre by teaching drama classes in Spokane, Washington, where he and his wife settled.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Raif
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Shawn Mulhare- Actor
- Director
John Saxon appeared in nearly 200 roles in the movies and on television in a more-than half-century-long career that has stretched over seven decades since he made his big screen debut in 1954 in uncredited small roles in It Should Happen to You (1954) and George Cukor's A Star Is Born (1954). Born Carmine Orrico on August 5, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Italian-American parents, Antonio Orrico and Anna (née Protettore), he studied acting with Stella Adler after graduating from New Utrecht High School.
He was discovered by talent agent Henry Willson, the man most famous for creating and representing Rock Hudson (as well as a stable of "beefcake" male stars and starlets), who signed him up after he saw Saxon's picture on the cover of a magazine. Willson brought the 16-year-old to Southern California, changed his name to John Saxon, and launched his career. Saxon made his television debut on Richard Boone's series Medic (1954) in 1955 and got his first substantial (and credited) role in Running Wild (1955), playing a juvenile delinquent. In the Esther Williams vehicle The Unguarded Moment (1956) (one of her rare dramatic roles), the film's marketing campaign spotlighted him, trumpeting the movie as "Co-starring the exciting new personality John Saxon.".
By 1958, he seemed to have established himself as a supporting player in A-List pictures, being featured in Blake Edwards's comedy This Happy Feeling (1958) headlined by Debbie Reynolds and Vincente Minnelli's The Reluctant Debutante (1958) with Rex Harrison and Sandra Dee. In the next five years, he worked steadily, including supporting roles in John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960), the James Stewart comedy Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) and Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963) while having first billing in the B-movies Cry Tough (1959) and War Hunt (1962). Fluent in Italian, he made his first pictures in Italy in the period, Agostino (1962) and Mario Bava's The Evil Eye (1963). Despite his good work with major directors, he failed to succeed as a star.
By 1965, he was appearing in the likes of Blood Beast from Outer Space (1965), albeit, top-billed. A more emblematic picture was Sidney J. Furie's The Appaloosa (1966), in which he appeared in Mexican bandito drag as the man who steals the horse of Marlon Brando, another Stella Adler student. Saxon would reprise the role, of sorts, in John Sturges Joe Kidd (1972) in support of superstar Clint Eastwood. In those less politically correct times, many an Italian-American with a dark complexion would be relied on to play Mexicans, Native Americans and other "exotic" types like Mongols. Saxon played everything from an Indian chief on Bonanza (1959) to Marco Polo on The Time Tunnel (1966).
From 1969 to 1972 season, he was a star of the television series The Bold Ones: The New Doctors (1969), playing the brilliant surgeon Theodore Stuart. When the series ended, he took one of his most famous roles when Bruce Lee demurred over casting Rod Taylor as he was too tall. A black belt in karate, Saxon appeared as Roper in Enter the Dragon (1973). He continued to play a wide variety of roles on television and in motion pictures, with key roles in 1974's classic slasher Black Christmas (1974), 1984's groundbreaking A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and the 1990s self-referential horror films New Nightmare (1994) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
John Saxon died of pneumonia on July 25, 2020, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He was 83.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Raven- Actor
- Soundtrack
The son of Edwin Schallert, drama editor of the "Los Angeles Times" and the dean of West Coast critics, William Schallert became interested in an acting career while at UCLA in 1942. After graduation, he became involved with the Circle Theater (eventually becoming one of its owners) and made his film debut in The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He then became ubiquitous in movies and TV ever since, and from 1979 to 1981, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild. He stayed active with SAG projects and said he never gave retirement a thought.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Willis Roper- Lanky, balding, intense American character actor of Puerto Rican ancestry, born in New York's Spanish Harlem. Deserted by his parents, Sierra was brought up by an aunt in a rough, predominantly Irish neighbourhood from the age of six. Though briefly tempted by gang life as a teenager, he took up acting classes after accompanying a friend to an audition and ended up playing Shakespearean roles with the National Shakespeare Company and in the New York Shakespeare Festival (playing, among many other parts, Macbeth and Romeo), as well as appearing off-Broadway. He later said "I would have been happy if I continued to do that for the rest of my life". However, in 1969, Sierra decided to move to Hollywood and began acting in episodic television where he was initially typecast as Latino heavies or cops.
Sierra made his breakthrough in the role of Julio Fuentes on NBC's Sanford and Son (1972), his character the perennial butt of bigoted jokes from the show's cantankerous lead, played by Redd Foxx. He then appeared in the original cast of the police sitcom Barney Miller (1975) as the passionate, proudly Puerto Rican Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale. Written out of the show at the end of season two, he had further recurring roles in serial television, frequently alternating between comedy and drama. These included the short-lived hospital sitcom A.E.S. Hudson Street (1977), the controversial but hugely popular parody Soap (1977) (as South American counter-revolutionary "El Puerco"), Hill Street Blues (1981) (as Assistant District Attorney Alvarez), Zorro and Son (1983) (as garrison commander Paco Pico, one of the hero's chief antagonists), Miami Vice (1984) (as Don Johnson's erstwhile boss Lou Rodriguez, killed off by a hitman in episode four -- in fact, Sierra opted to leave the show because he disliked Miami) and the science fiction series Something Is Out There (1988) (as Captain Victor Maldonado). His numerous, varied and often highly entertaining guest appearances have included supporting roles as a Native American renegade on Gunsmoke (1955), a mutated religious leader living underneath irradiated New York in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), a professor of anthropology helping Mulder and Scully track down the Jersey Devil in The X-Files (1993), a Cardassian member of the sinister Obsidian Order on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), an Italian priest in John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) and an Iraqi gunboat captain in the Rambo spoof Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993).
Sierra made his home in Laguna Beach, California, where he died of cancer on January 4 2021 at the age of 84.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Zolly - Actor
- Director
- Producer
G.D. Spradlin was born on 31 August 1920 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Ed Wood (1994), Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Godfather Part II (1974). He was married to Frances Hewitt Hendrickson and Nell Ethelyn Hulsizer. He died on 24 July 2011 in San Luis Obispo, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
Lucas Bass- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Patrick Barry Sullivan was born on August 29, 1912 in New York City. While never a major movie star, he established himself as a well-known and highly regarded character lead and second lead in motion pictures and television in a career that lasted 50 years. Legend has it that Sullivan was counseled to consider a life in the theater due to his height (6'3") and good looks. He was supporting himself as a theater usher and department store employee when made his Broadway debut in "I Want a Policeman" at the Lyceum Theatre in January 1936. Unfortunately, the show lasted only 47 performances.
In 1936, he appeared in three other plays on the Great White Way, the drama "St. Helena" and the comedies "All That Glitters" and "Eye On the Sparrow." All three were flops. Sullivan finally appeared in a hit play when he transferred into the role of Bert Jefferson in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. However the 1941-42 season brought three more flops: "Mr. Big", "Ring Around Elizabeth", and "Johnny 2 X 4". Wisely, he stayed away from Broadway for a decade, when he again transferred into a hit, "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," taking over the role of Barney Greenwald from Henry Fonda. Sullivan was nominated for a Best Actor Emmy Award in 1955 when he reprised the role on The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1955). His last appearance on Broadway, in the original "Too Late the Phalarope" in 1956, was, true to his performance record, a flop. Barry Sullivan's talent was meant for the screen.
In the late 1930s, he gained movie acting experience in two-reel comedies produced by the Manhattan-based Educational Studios. After giving up on his Broadway career and moving to Hollywood, Sullivan appeared in an uncredited bit part in "The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1940) (1941) at Universal before making his official film debut in the Chester Morris B-picture High Explosive (1943) (1943) at Paramount. His next picture was The Woman of the Town (1943), which was released by United Artists that same year.
Barry Sullivan never broke through to become a major star -- but he did establish himself firmly in character lead and second lead roles. He excelled at roles in which he could play aggressive characters that highlighted his centered masculinity. His most notable roles in the early part of his movie career were as the eponymous The Gangster (1947), Tom Buchanan in the Alan Ladd version of The Great Gatsby (1949) (second lead), and as the movie director in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) as part of a first rate ensemble. He had his own TV series Harbourmaster (1957) in 1957-58 and The Tall Man (1960) in 1960-62. A decade later, his acting skills were used to fine effect in two prestigious productions of stage plays as George C. Scott's brother in the Emmy Award-winning TV adaptation of Arthur Miller's The Price (1971) and the amoral patriarch in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest (1972). He continued acting in movies until 1977, rounding off a near 40-year movie career with an appearance in Oh, God! (1977). He continued to appear periodically on television until retiring in 1980.
Sullivan was married three times and fathered three children, Johnny and Jenny Sullivan by his first wife, and Patsy Sullivan-Webb by his second wife Gita Hall. The Sullivan talent has run into three generations. Jenny Sullivan became an actress and a playwright, writing the drama "J for J" ("Journal for John") based on the correspondence between her father and her brother, who was mentally disabled. She was married to the rock star Jim Messina.
Patsy Sullivan-Webb was a successful model who appeared as the face of Yardley Cosmetics in the Swinging '60s, starting at the age of twelve. She appeared with her father in the episode of That Girl (1966) that opened the series' third season and was a contestant on The Dating Game (1965). She married the great songwriter Jimmy Webb, by whom she had six children. Two of her sons formed the rock group The Webb Brothers.
Barry Sullivan died of a respiratory ailment on June 6, 1994 in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 81 years old.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Dillon- Born in Oakland, California, Kenneth Tobey was headed for a law career when he first dabbled in acting at the University of California Little Theater. That experience led to a year and a half of study at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach and Tony Randall. Throughout the 1940s Tobey acted on Broadway and in stock; he made his film debut in a 1943 short, "The Man on the Ferry." He made his Hollywood film bow in a Hopalong Cassidy Western, and has since appeared in scores of features and on numerous TV series. He even had his own series, Whirlybirds (1957), in which he played an adventurous helicopter pilot.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Sheriff Ingram (uncredited) - Actor
- Producer
- Director
Brian Tochi is celebrated around the world for starring in three of the most popular and successful film franchises of all time, and has created some of the most beloved & memorable recurring characters in each of them.
Film audiences & television viewers know him as a star of several hit films, a collection of six on-camera television series, theater, and a multitude of guest-starring and co-starring roles in episodic television. Brian has starred or co-starred in over 25 motion pictures and their sequels, among them Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992), as well as Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), where his creation of outlandish characters has been the prototype for countless other portrayals in television, commercials and feature film productions. Another hugely successful film franchise is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its two sequels, starring as "Leonardo", the pizza-loving leader of the Turtles. Brian's television work is diverse and highly acclaimed. He has starred in numerous television series, including Anna and the King (1972) (opposite Yul Brynner for CBS), Space Academy (1977) (CBS), the The Renegades (1983) (ABC) and Santa Barbara (1984) (NBC). Also, for over 3-1/2 years, he replaced Barry Bostwick and was named Host and Star of his own CBS television series entitled Razzmatazz (1977), garnering the network a Daytime Emmy in the process.
Another unique series outing came from Time/Warner's "Channel One", the educational news program with a daily audience of over 11.5 million students. His 2.5-year involvement not only included hosting and narrating duties, but he also functioned as a writer, producer and segment director, as well as being named chief foreign correspondent for the show.
Another area in which Brian has focused his attention is directing and the creation of unique properties, one of them being Tales of a Fly on the Wall (2004), of which he is the producer, creator, writer and director.
Through his years of work in the entertainment industry, Brian has been able to use his position to help support many causes for young people, including Famous Phone Friends (calling and lending encouragement to catastrophically and terminally ill children), the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Special Olympics, Young Artists United (celebrities & entertainment professionals who've donated their time to help troubled teens throughout the country), and others.
A native of Los Angeles, Brian has been educated through the L.A. public school system in addition to being privately tutored through the studios' education program. His outstanding scholastic abilities rated him in the highest percentile in national academic levels. Brian has also been educated at the University of Southern California (USC), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and University of California at Irvine (UCI).
Besides several of the projects Brian is developing and creating, one is passionately closest to his heart - that of helping to fix a broken planet. His greatest ambition is to enlist the help of others to lift humanity, to give back, to create change, and to ultimately lay a foundation towards building a better and greener future. With everyone's help, Brian believes it can and will be done."Ho Fong"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 Febuary 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
(uncredited)- Actor
- Soundtrack
In 1959, Tyner appeared on Broadway with Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth. Duly impressed by Tyner's work, Newman brought his theatrical coworker to Hollywood eight years later to play "Boss Higgins", the sadistic prison camp guard in Cool Hand Luke (1967).
It was the first of many such roles for Tyner, who spent the next several years playing a variety of tight-lipped, vicious rural authority figures. Better known roles in this vein include "Unger", the snitching, murderous trustee in the Burt Reynolds prison comedy, The Longest Yard (1974).
Less brutal but no less inimitable was Tyner's interpretation of "Uncle Victor" in the 1971 cult classic Harold and Maude (1971). He returned to the stage in 1977, occasionally stepping before the cameras for such TV movies as The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel (1979), theatrical features such as Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986) and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), as well as a recurring role as "Howard Rodman" on the television drama Father Murphy (1981).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Larraby- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Robert Urich grew up in Toronto, Ohio, one of four siblings of Slovak and Rusyn descent, raised Catholic by their parents, John P. Urich (died 1977) and Cecelia (née Halpate) Urich (died 2002). His athletic ability led to a four-year football scholarship at Florida State University (FSU). He earned his Bachelor's degree in Radio and Television Communications from Florida State University in 1968 and his Master's degree in Broadcast Research and Management from Michigan State University in 1971. He joined WGN radio in Chicago as a sales account representative. He then briefly appeared as a TV weatherman, and soon realized he wanted to become an actor.
Urich's big break came in 1972 when he played Burt Reynolds's younger brother in a stage production of "The Rainmaker". Reynolds and Urich were both alumni of FSU. Reynolds brought him to California and let him stay in his home until he got his acting break. He also recommended Urich to producer Aaron Spelling for the TV series S.W.A.T. (1975). Although that series lasted only one season, Spelling remembered Urich and later cast him in Vega$ (1978), which had a longer run.
He was starring in the TV series The Lazarus Man (1996) when he was diagnosed with cancer, which caused the cancellation of the series. The cancer went into remission after treatment and he resumed acting again with his role as Captain Jim Kennedy III on Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998). The cancer would claim Urich's life on April 16, 2002 at the age of 55, survived by his wife, children, siblings, mother (who died later that same year, on October 5, 2002, aged 90) and large extended family.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Greg Dundee- Mills Watson was born on 10 July 1940 in Oakland, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Cujo (1983), Up in Smoke (1978) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974). He is married to Sue. He was previously married to Caroline Mary Mason.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Turpin - Actor
- Soundtrack
American character actor in scores of films after substantial stage experience. He was born in DeSoto, Missouri, but raised in Atchison, Kansas. The son of a railroad worker and law clerk (some publicity material states the father was a physician, but family and census records show otherwise), he wavered between various careers including oil exploration, but found his way after an introduction to the stage with the Atchison Civic Theatre and Kansas City Civic Theatre. He briefly attended the University of Kansas (where he was a fraternity brother of future newsman John Cameron Swayze). He moved from Kansas to California in 1930, where he lived with his grandparents and worked in the lemon groves near Pomona prior to opening a tire-repair shop in that city. He also helped found a theatre company in Pomona. He joined the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where he was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout looking for someone with a resemblance to Henry Clay, for the Warners short film The Monroe Doctrine (1939). He signed with Warners as a contract player and was thereafter virtually never without work. He played in an enormous number of films over the next three decades, mostly in small supporting roles. He was equally adept at playing businessmen, attorneys, or historical figures, and was a familiar face on screen and on television for his entire career, though most people would have been unable to identify him by name. Perhaps his greatest fame came in the TV role of oil company president John Brewster on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). During the last years of his life, he was co-owner of a popular restaurant/bar in Encino, California, called The Oak Room. Wilcox died in 1974.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Judge Moon- Actor
- Producer
Prolific American character actor of primarily villainous roles. The son of German parents, Cincinnati feed-store manager August Wilke and his wife Rose, Robert Joseph Wilke grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a lifeguard at a Miami, Florida, hotel, where he made contacts in the film business. He was able to obtain work as a stuntman and continued as such until the mid-'40s, when he began getting actual roles in low-budget westerns and serials. A prominent appearance as one of the heavies in High Noon (1952) led to work in higher-quality films. He worked extensively in television as well as movies, and became an enormously familiar face, though a fairly anonymous one to the general public. His weathered visage made him a perfect western bad guy, but he occasionally played sympathetic parts as well, as in Days of Heaven (1978). An expert golfer, he was said by his friend Claude Akins to have earned more money on the golf course than he ever did in movies. He died in 1989.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Sgt. Bridger (as Robert Wilke)- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Character actor Jason Wingreen was born on October 9, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York City. The son of a Jewish tailor father, Wingreen grew up in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens. Jason attended John Adams High School and majored in English and Speech at Brooklyn College (he initially planned on being a sportswriter and wrote about high school sporting events for the daily newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle during his high school years). While at Brooklyn College Wingreen caught the acting bug after taking a mandatory speech course and joined the undergraduate theater group the Masquers, which he became president of in his senior year at college. Following graduation from Brooklyn College in June, 1941, Jason got his first show business job with a marionette company.
Wingreen went on to serve in the armed forces during World War II as a member of the 81st Fighter Squadron, 50th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force. In the wake of his tour of duty, Jason returned to Howard Beach and went to the New School on the G.I. Bill. Wingreen helped to found the famed Circle in the Square Theatre company in Greenwich Village in the early 1950's and in 1954 acted for the first time on Broadway in the plays "Fragile Fox" and "The Girl on the Via Flaminia." Jason acted on his first TV show in 1955 and acted in his first movie shortly thereafter. In addition, Wingreen was a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since the early 1960's. Jason died at age 95 at his home in Los Angeles, California on December 25, 2015. He's survived by his son Ned, two grandchildren, and his sister Harriett Wingreen, who was the orchestra pianist for the New York Philharmonic for several decades.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Mr. Kennemer- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Craggy-faced, athletic veteran character actor who played hard-bitten or menacing types in numerous westerns and crime dramas. One of five brothers, Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas. He had a keen interest in aviation early on and took flying lessons from 1941, getting his pilot's license and subsequently served in both World War II (Army Air Corps) and Korea (Military Air Transport Command). Woodward first acted at Arlington State College, majoring in music and drama. He appeared for a while with the Margo Jones Repertory Theatre '47 in Dallas and then went back to study for a degree in corporate finance at the University of Texas, graduating in 1948. At one time, he sang with a jazz band and as a member of a barber shop quartet as well as having a regular weekly gig as a talk show host on local radio. Possessed of a powerful bass-baritone voice, Woodward's ultimate ambition had been to sing for the Metropolitan Opera. That didn't pan out. Neither did his hope that moving to Hollywood in 1955 might open the door to a career in musicals. Instead, he successfully auditioned at Disney for The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), followed by a part in the western pioneer saga Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956). His first big break was as co-star opposite Hugh O'Brian in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), playing the role of Earp's deputy Shotgun Gibbs for four seasons. This effectively typecast him as a western genre actor with a record number of guest spots on Gunsmoke (1955) and Wagon Train (1957). Nonetheless, his most famous role was that of ""the man with no eyes", a sinister chain gang overseer in Cool Hand Luke (1967), distinguished by perpetually wearing reflective sunglasses. He also made two appearances on Star Trek (1966) (most famously as Simon Van Gelder, the first human with whom Spock 'mind melds') and played the shrewd Armani-suited oil tycoon Punk Anderson in 55 episodes of Dallas (1978).
Thomas Morgan Woodward was awarded the Golden Boot Award from the Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Fund in August 1988. In 2009, he became an inductee into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Privately, he was a respected authority on Early American Aircraft. According to his website, his main hobby was "restoring, rebuilding and flying antique airplanes".Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Col. Binns- Korean-American character actor Philip Ahn played hundreds of Chinese and Japanese characters during a long career. He was born in Los Angeles in 1905 (though 1911 is the year usually given, U.S. government records confirm that Ahn was born in 1905), the son of a Korean diplomat. He attended the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. Ahn got his first film acting job in 1935 and quickly made a place for himself playing Asians of many ethnicities. Although his kindly demeanor made him perfect for sympathetic roles, he could excel in the occasional villainous "Yellow Peril"-type role. Condemned, like most Asian actors of the period, to stereotypical roles, Ahn nevertheless brought a dignity to even the most subservient of characters. In his later years he achieved his greatest fame as the wise Master Kan on the television series Kung Fu (1972). Ahn was also a successful Los Angeles restaurateur. He died in 1978. Not to be confused with his brother, actor Philson Ahn."Master Kan"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
(voice only)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul of the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)
(voice only) - Actor
- Producer
- Director
David Carradine was born in Hollywood, California, the eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine, and his wife, Ardanelle Abigail (McCool). He was a member of an acting family that included brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine as well as his daughters Calista Carradine and Kansas Carradine, and nieces Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton.
He was born in Hollywood and educated at San Francisco State College, where he studied music theory and composition. It was while writing music for the Drama Department's annual revues that he discovered his own passion for the stage, joining a Shakespearean repertory company and learning his craft on his feet. After a two-year stint in the army, he found work in New York as a commercial artist and later found fame on Broadway in "The Deputy" and "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" opposite Christopher Plummer. With that experience he returned to Hollywood, landing the lead in the short-lived TV series Shane (1966) before being tapped to star opposite Barbara Hershey in Martin Scorsese's first Hollywood film, Boxcar Bertha (1972). The iconic Kung Fu (1972) followed, catapulting Carradine to super-stardom for the next three years, until he left the series to pursue his film career.
That career included more than 100 feature films, a couple of dozen television movies, a whole range of theater on and off Broadway and another hit series, Kung Fu: A Legend Reborn (1992).
Carradine received the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Film Review as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory (1976), and he won critical acclaim for his work as Cole Younger in The Long Riders (1980). "Kung Fu" also received seven Emmy nominations in its first season, including one for Carradine as Best Actor. In addition, he won the People's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival's "Director's Fortnight" for his work on Americana (1981), and a second Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in North & South: Book 1, North & South (1985). Among his other notable film credits were Gray Lady Down (1978), Mean Streets (1973), Bird on a Wire (1990), The Long Goodbye (1973), The Serpent's Egg (1977) and Circle of Iron (1978). He returned to the screen in what could be his greatest performance, playing the title role in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), for which he received his fourth Golden Globe nomination. He also continued his devotion to music, and recorded some 60 tracks in various musical genres and sang in several movies. He made his home in Los Angeles with his fifth wife Annie, her four children and their two dogs.
Found dead in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 3, 2009, aged 72."Kwai Chang Caine"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 15
The Ancient Warrior (03 May 1973)- Actor
- Art Department
- Script and Continuity Department
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 The 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, but it was as Charlie Chan's #1 son in that series that Luke achieved his greatest recognition. In the 1970s a new generation was made aware of his talents by virtue of his recurring role in the TV series Kung Fu (1972)."Master Po"
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 0
Pilot (22 February 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 5
The Tide (1 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 6
The Soul is the Warrior (8 February 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 8
Sun and Cloud Shadow (22 Feb 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 9
The Praying Mantis Kills (15 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 10
Alethea (22 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 12
Superstition (05 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 13
The Stone (12 Apr 1973)
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Alderson led a colorful life considering his origins in a mining village in the north of England. After spending all of two weeks as a miner, he lied about his age, joined the British Army and attained the rank of Major. Leaving for the US, he married a General's secretary and got into the movies, often playing villains. He played (uncredited) the Gum Chewer in Blazing Saddles (1974).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Wray- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Lane Bradbury was born on 17 June 1938 in Buckhead, Georgia, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for From the Midst of Pain (2010), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and Then Came Bronson (1969). She was previously married to Lou Antonio.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 4
An Eye for an Eye (25 January 1972)
Annie Buchanan- A resolute, blue-eyed brunette with attractive, slightly pinched features, Geraldine Brooks was born to a Dutch couple on October 29, 1925, in New York City. Her parents had a theater-based background -- father, James Stroock, owned a top costume company and mother, Bianca, was a costume designer and stylist. In dance shoes from age 2, her closer relatives were also extensively involved in theater -- one aunt being a former Ziegfeld Follies girl and another a contralto with the Metropolitan Opera. Growing up surrounding by these theatrical types, it was only natural that it rubbed off on her. She attended the Hunter Modeling School as a young teen and graduated from Julia Richman High School in 1942 as president of her drama club. Older sister, Gloria Stroock, also became an actress, primarily on TV.
In New York, Geraldine studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Art and the Neighborhood Playhouse before apprenticing in summer stock productions. In a pre-Broadway tryout of "Follow the Girls" in 1944, Geraldine subsequently went with the show to Broadway in May of that same year and enjoyed a nine-month run. Following her role as "Perdita" in "A Winter's Tale" at the Theatre Guild, she was signed by Warner Bros. and made her film debut promisingly as a second femme lead in the mystery thriller Cry Wolf (1947) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Errol Flynn. At this time, she shunned her odd-sounding last name of "Stroock" in favor of the more euphonious marquee name of "Brooks", which was the name of her father's costume company. Playing Flynn's cool, conniving niece who gives trouble to Stanwyck, she gave added suspense to the film. In her second movie, Possessed (1947), she is again at odds with another powerhouse star, this time Joan Crawford, but shows more sensitivity against the manic Crawford character in this film-noir chiller.
Geraldine moved to dramatic lead status with Embraceable You (1948) opposite Dane Clark, and played daughter to real wife-and-husband team Fredric March and Florence Eldridge in An Act of Murder (1948), a drama that dealt with the topic of euthanasia. Less impressive was the standard Warner Bros. "B" western The Younger Brothers (1949) and her MGM loanout appearance in Challenge to Lassie (1949). Floundering a bit at this time and failing to strike a star-making chord with audiences, she attempted a few continental film assignments, one in which she played Anna Magnani's younger sister, but grew quickly disillusioned there as well and returned to America.
Focusing instead on stage and TV, including a Broadway stint in "Time of the Cuckoo" starring Tony-winning Shirley Booth, Geraldine eventually went back to studying acting again. In 1956, she became a member of the Actor's Studio and became a strong exponent of its method style. Despite this renewed, enlightening acting technique, her film career found no momentum at all. In fact, she appeared in only two films in the oncoming years as brittle, harder-core ladies in Street of Sinners (1957) and Johnny Tiger (1966). Her greater notices were to be found guesting on various popular TV series. Particularly noteworthy were her roles on Perry Mason (1957), The Defenders (1961), Bus Stop (1961) (for which she earned an Emmy nomination), the pilot of Ironside (1967) and the last final climactic episode of The Fugitive (1963). A regular as Dan Dailey's secretary on the mildly received Faraday and Company (1973), she also appeared in the 70s episodes of Kung Fu (1972), Cannon (1971), Barnaby Jones (1973) and McMillan & Wife (1971), the last in which sister, Gloria Stroock, had a recurring role as Rock Hudson's secretary.
Geraldine's later theater included her Tony-nominated role in "Brightower" (1970) (despite it closing after only one performance) on Broadway and as wife "Golde" in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof". Her final movie part came in the rather ho-hum crime movie Mr. Ricco (1975) alongside Dean Martin. A short-lived series regular as the matriarch of The Dumplings (1976), a rare comedic venture for her, and a stage production of Jules Feiffer's "Hold Me!" in 1977 capped her capable but somewhat unsatisfying career. She deserved much better attention than she got, especially in films. Divorced from TV writer Herbert Sargent after only three years (1958-1961), she married author Budd Schulberg (best known for his screenplay of On the Waterfront (1954)), in 1964. The couple moved to Los Angeles and opened a writers' workshop together for the underprivileged. She also collaborated with Schulberg on the book Swan Watch (1975), a study on the elegant birds in which she also took photographs. In addition, she wrote poetry for children although she herself never had any. Sadly, Geraldine died in 1977 at age 51 of a heart attack while battling cancer, thus depriving the entertainment industry of a valuable talent. She was survived by her husband, mother and sister.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 7
Nine Lives (15 Feb 1973)
Widdaw Tackaberry - Actor
- Stunts
American bit player and stuntman. A former boxer and U.S. Navy veteran, Duran was befriended by Marlon Brando, who obtained a small part for him in Viva Zapata! (1952). He continued to work, first in Brando's films, then in other projects, often in athletic parts or as a stunt performer. He also worked frequently in television. He died at at 77, in 2002.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Lead Indian- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Michael Greene was born on 4 November 1933 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), *batteries not included (1987) and Lord of the Flies (1990). He was married to Patricia Donovan. He died on 10 January 2020 in Haiku, Hawaii, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 11
Chains (29 Mar 1973)
Huntoon- Paul Harper was born on 8 December 1933 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for The Wild Bunch (1969), Knight Rider (1982) and Run, Angel, Run! (1969). He was married to Roberta Collins and Georglynn Scoggins. He died on 13 November 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 2
Dark Angel (11 November 1972)
Davey Peartree - Actor
- Stunts
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert F. Hoy was equally at home as a stuntman and as an actor. He appeared as Joe Butler on the acclaimed TV Western, The High Chaparral. He stunt-doubled for such actors as Charles Bronson, Tony Curtis, Robert Forrester, Ross Martin, Tyrone Power, David Jansen, and Telly Savalas. He appeared in such films as The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Lone Ranger, Gambler II, Nevada Smith, Bronco Billy, and The Enforcer, and on television in such programs as Wanted Dead or Alive, Walker Texas Ranger, JAG, Dallas (recurring role), The Wild Wild West, Magnum P.I. (five episodes), and The Young Riders. Aside from appearing in front of the cameras, he was the 2nd Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator in Spain on the TV series Zorro and on the pilot episode of The Three Musketeers.
In his work as a stuntman, Bob specialized in horse work, although he was also called upon to double in fight scenes, do car work and handle high falls. The films in which lead actors and others were doubled for stunts are too numerous to mention but include: Operation Petticoat, The Defiant Ones, Spartacus, Tobruk, They Call Me Bruce, River of No Return, To Hell and Back, Drumbeat, Wings of the Hawk, and Revenge of the Creature From the Black Lagoon.
He held lifetime membership in the Stuntmen's Association, of which he was a founding member. He was also a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, Directors Guild of America, AFTRA, and the Screen Actors Guild (later SAG-AFTRA).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 14
The Third Man (26 Apr 1973)
Norris
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 1
King of the Mountain (14 October 1972)
Curry McCoy (as Robert Hoy)- Actor
- Director
Scott was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1943, raised in Vancouver, B.C. and graduated from University (UBC) with a B.A in theatre (honours) in 1964. He immediately moved to New York where he snagged the title role in Billy Liar, off bwdy. His performance drew the attention of the noted director William Ball, who was just forming the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco). Scott became one of the original company members of the ACT, appearing in over twenty productions, Death of a Salesman to Beyond the Fringe, King Lear to Charley's Aunt. While his film test for the Antonioni film Zabriskie Point didn't get him the part, it led him to another film, Daddy's Gone A'Hunting, which introduced him. For the next fifteen years Scott accumulated an impressive and long list of credits in Los Angeles based film and television as well as a strong profile in the theatre community, appearing often at the Mark Taper Forum, the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and Theatricum Bottanicum. He has performed on Bwdy, opposite Colleen Dewhurst ( Queen of the Rebels). In 1981 he returned to Canada, for an acclaimed season at the Stratford Festival, with prominent roles in Coriolanus, Wild Oats, and The Misanthrope. His performance of Salieri (Amadeus) in Edmonton was followed by an offer to play O'Brien, the lead detective in the series Night Heat (CBS, CTV), produced by the legendary Sonny Grosso. Ninety-six episodes were produced in Toronto, 1984-88. Much of the work was done at night, and budgets were slender, yet NH, with its fluid story formant and catchy intro tune ( Dominic Troiano), captured a loyal audience. With his bank account modestly fattened, Scott moved away from Toronto after Night Heat, back to B.C. and the wet coast where he was raised. Buying land on Saltspring Island, he built a house of his own design, married a beautiful nurse, Veronica (Toronto Sick Kids Hosp.), who he'd met on the street while filming NH, and raised two children, Rebecca, and Luke. He kept his hand in the business at the same time, working in theatres across Canada from Toronto's Royal Alex (Art) , to Winnipeg's Prairie Theatre Exchange ( Copenhagen), to Victoria's Belfry Theatre (Trying, Blue Orange.) And working out of Vancouver he has appeared in innumerable TV projects (V, The Returned), and movies filmed locally (Baal, Anna's Storm, The Hamster Cage, Becoming Redwood).Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Randy Bucknell- Actor
- Additional Crew
Kung Fu: Season 1, Episode 3
Blood Brother (18 January 1972)
Lew Soong