Keye Luke

Keye Luke

Birth : 1904-06-18, Guangzhou, China

Death : 1991-01-12

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Keye Luke (Chinese: 陸錫麒, Cantonese: Luk Shek Kee; June 18, 1904 – January 12, 1991) was a Chinese-American actor. He was known for playing Lee Chan, the "Number One Son" in the Charlie Chan films, the original Kato in the 1939–1941 Green Hornet film serials, Brak in the 1960s Space Ghost cartoons, Master Po in the television series Kung Fu, and Mr. Wing in the Gremlins films. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed by RKO, Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was one of the most prominent Asian actors of American cinema in the mid-twentieth century.

Profile

Keye Luke

Movies

Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
(archive)
A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
Keye Luke
Keye Luke
KEYE LUKE is a short film bio-pic about pioneering Actor and Artist Keye Luke, the first, original on-screen Kato in the 1940s Green Hornet decades before Bruce Lee and also the All-American "Number One Son" in the popular Charlie Chan films of the 1930s.
Alice
Dr. Yang
Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for the handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults herbalist Dr. Yang, who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of well-established rut.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Mr. Wing
Young sweethearts Billy and Kate move to the Big Apple, land jobs in a high-tech office park and soon reunite with the friendly and lovable Gizmo. But a series of accidents creates a whole new generation of Gremlins. The situation worsens when the devilish green creatures invade a top-secret laboratory and develop genetically altered powers, making them even harder to destroy!
The Mighty Quinn
Dr. Raj
Police chief Xavier Quinn investigates the gruesome murder of Donald Pater, one of the wealthiest residents on a Caribbean island. He was found decapitated in his Jacuzzi. Although the local political establishment, especially crooked Governor Chalk, insists that small-time thief Maubee is responsible, Xavier has his doubts. This view is complicated by the police chief's personal history with Maubee: The men have been friends since childhood.
Dead Heat
Mr. Thule
LAPD police officer, Roger Mortis is killed while arresting zombies who have been reanimated by the head of Dante Laboratories in order to carry out violent armed robberies.
A Fine Mess
Ishimine
Two friends an actor and a chef discover a plot to fix a horse race and try to capitalize on it. But also have to deal with the two men who fixed it who are trying to silence them. And there's also the mob boss whom the two guys work for who planned the fixing thing whose wife is having an affair with the actor.
Kappa
Narrator (voice)
Deconstructing the myth of Oedipus within the framework of an ancient Japanese folk story, the Yonemotos craft a highly charged discourse of loss and desire. Quoting from Bunuel, Freud, pop media and art, they place the symbology of Western psychosexual analytical theory into a cross-cultural context, juxtaposing the Oedipal and Kappa myths in a delirious collusion of form and content. The Kappa, a malevolent Japanese water imp, is played with eerie intensity by artist Mike Kelley; actress Mary Woronov plays Jocasta as a vamp from a Hollywood exploitation film. Steeped in perversions and violent longings, both the Kappa and Oedipus legends are presented in highly stylized, purposefully "degraded" forms, reflecting their media-exploitative cultural contexts. In this ironic yet oddly poignant essay of psychosexual compulsion and catharsis, the Yonemotos demonstrate that even in debased forms, cultural archetypes hold the power to move and manipulate.
Kung Fu The Movie
Master Po
In his travels, Caine meets up with an old man who has several surprises for him. The first being the destruction of the Shaolin order, the second being that the man is the father of the Emperor's nephew whom he killed in China, and the third is that he seeks his revenge using the son Caine never knew he had sired as the instrument of his death. It will take all of Caine's skill and wisdom to find a solution to this deadly predicament.
Blade in Hong Kong
Chang Chin-tzu
Joe Blade is an unclaimed TV pilot film. An American, Blade works in Hong Kong, the home of his adoptive father Chang Chin-tzu. When Chang Chin-tzu is killed and a wealthy man is kidnapped, Blade springs into action.
Gremlins
Grandfather (Mr. Wing)
When Billy Peltzer is given a strange but adorable pet named Gizmo for Christmas, he inadvertently breaks the three important rules of caring for a Mogwai, and unleashes a horde of mischievous gremlins on a small town.
The Nightingale
Imperial Doctor
A kitchen maid and a nightingale help save an emperor with the power of song and friendship.
Cocaine and Blue Eyes
Tan Ng
O.J. Simpson plays Michael Brennen, a San Francisco private eye who gets dragged into a drug-smuggling operation while searching for the girlfriend of a deal client, leading Brennen to a politically prominent family.
Fly Away Home
Duc
Ambitious pilot to a prospective series revolving around a combat cameraman in Vietnam. Carl Danton is in Saigon on assignment at the start of the 1968 Tet offensive with a cynical boss in the local bureau chief. His love interest is a Vietnamese doctor whose brother happens to be a leader in the Viet Cong and whose influential parents are involved in high-level corruption.
Just You and Me, Kid
Doctor Device
George Burns stars as a former vaudevillian who befriends a young runaway, played by 14-year old Brooke Shields, who is being chased by drug dealers.
The Amsterdam Kill
Chung Wei
Former DEA Agent Quinlan, removed from the force some years earlier for stealing confiscated drug money, is hired by Chung Wei, a leader in the Amsterdam drug cartel, who wants out of the business. Quinlan's job is to use Chung's information to tip DEA agents to drug busts, thereby destroying the cartel. But when the first two "tips" go awry, resulting in murdered DEA officers, the feds must decide whether to trust Quinlan further...
Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Cook in Kitchen
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.
Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders
Lord Sun Ming
China, 7th century. On their way to a provincial center Judge Dee and his three wives spend the night at a Taoist monastery. Soon the judge discovers that the secluded place holds a secret - the former abbot died of unnatural causes. After a number of mysterious events and more cases of murder Dee tracks down the true villain.
The Cat Creature
The Thief - Joe Sung
When a rich man dies, some items from a collection of his are stolen- an ancient Egyptian gold amulet and the mummy that was wearing it. The police consult scholars from the local University to help with the investigation, which is taking a more serious turn as people connected with the case are killed by wounds that seem to be from a housecat.
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
Master Po
After avenging the death of his teacher, a Shaolin monk flees China to the American West and helps people while being pursued by bounty hunters.
The Hawaiians
Foo Sen
A wanderer returns home only to find political turmoil, disease and romantic difficulties.
Noon Sunday
Colonel Oong
Two mercenaries are hired to commit a political assassination.
The Chairman
Professor Soong Li
An American scientist is sent to Red China to steal the formula for a newly developed agricultural enzyme. What he is not told by his bosses is that a micro-sized bomb has been planted in his brain so that should the mission ever look likely to fail, he can be eliminated at the push of a button!
Project X
Sen Chiu
A spy is brought back from cryogenic suspension after being almost killed in a plane crash returning from a mission to learn about a deadly new weapon being developed in the East. But the vital memories are being suppressed, so the authorities use ultra-advanced technologies to try to uncover the secret.
Nobody's Perfect
Gondai-San
This military service comedy chronicles the misadventures of the U.S.S. Bustard in Japan. The crew has stolen a Buddha statue from a Japanese village, which if discovered missing would threaten Japanese/American relations. Doc Willoughby is the ship's petty officer, whose antics are constantly getting him into trouble with his captain. On shore leave, Willoughby falls for a seemingly demure Japanese girl in a kimono shop, who actually turns out to be a Japanese/American nurse in the US Navy, Lt. Tomiko Momoyama. However, it turns out she was betrothed as a child to a traditional Japanese man named Toshi, who fully intends on enforcing tradition. Willoughby divides his time between trying to return the Buddha statue back to the Japanese village it rightfully belongs to, and trying to woo Tomiko from the traditional Japanese man she rightfully belongs to.
Gigantis: The Fire Monster
Shoichi Tsukioka (voice)
The altered American release of Godzilla Raids Again. Originally meant to be known as the The Volcano Monsters, the film was eventually released as "Gigantis."
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
Captain Kuo Tai
While sailing lawfully up the Yangste in 1949, the British warship Amethyst found its return to the open sea blocked by Communist Chinese shore batteries that unexpectedly opened fire. In charge, Lietenant Commander Kerans was not however prepared for his crew and his ship to remain as a hostage for the Chinese to use as an international pawn.
Around the World in Eighty Days
Old Man at Travel Office (uncredited)
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Lee Foo (uncredited)
A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Lee Foo
A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.
The Bamboo Prison
Comrade-Instructor Li Ching
A communist POW sides with his North Korean guards against his fellow prisoners.
Hell's Half Acre
Police Chief Dan
A woman travels to Hawaii to find out if a man in prison there is actually her missing husband.
World for Ransom
Wong
In Singapore, a private detective and the British authorities are on the trail of a crime syndicate that kidnaps a nuclear physicist with the aim of selling him to the highest bidder.
South Sea Woman
Japanese Deck Officer (uncredited)
Marine Sergeant James O'Hearn is being tried at the San Diego Marine base for desertion, theft, scandalous conduct and destruction of property in time of war. He refuses to testify or plead guilty or not guilty to the charges. Showgirl Ginger Martin takes the stand against his protest. She testifies O'Hearn won't talk because he is protecting the name of his pal, Marine Private Davey White. Ginger tells how she, broke and stranded, met the two marines in Shanghai two weeks before Pearl Harbor.
Manhandled
Chinese Laundry Owner (uncredited)
Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.
Sky Dragon
Lee Chan
All the passengers on an airplane headed for San Francisco are drugged, and when they wake up, it is discovered that a quarter-million dollars is missing. Charlie Chan--and, of course, his #1 son--must discover the identity of the person who doped the passengers and stole the money.
The Feathered Serpent
Lee Chan
In order to learn the location of a fabled Aztec treasure, a professor kidnaps his colleague, the only man able to read the ancient Aztec script that is supposed to reveal the location of the treasure. Charlie Chan and his #1 and #2 sons journey to the jungles of Mexico to find the victim and bring the kidnapper and his gang to justice.
Waterfront at Midnight
Loy
Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow, detective Mike Hanrohan is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny has joined Barstow's gang. Things get worse after a bloody shootout, in which Mike apparently guns down his own brother.
Sleep, My Love
Jimmie Lin
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Dark Delusion
Dr. Lee
Spoiled socialite Cynthia Grace is suffering from a blood clot. Not unexpectedly, Tommy Coalt falls in love with Cynthia, much to her parents' dismay. Soon he's drawing up plans to marry the girl and setting up private practice in a smaller town.
Lost City of the Jungle
Tal Shan
A movie serial in 13 chapters, and Lionel Atwill's final film: Following the end of WWII, war-monger Sir Eric Hazarias sets the wheel in motion for WWIII. His search for Meteorium 245, the only practical defence against the atomic bomb, leads him to mythical Pendrang. Obstructing his sinister plan to rule the world are Rod Stanton, United Peace Foundation investigator, Tal Shan , Pendrang native, and Marjorie Elmore, daughter of scientist Dr. Elmore, unwilling assistant to Sir Eric.
Tokyo Rose
Charlie Otani
Lotus Long plays the title role, an American-educated Japanese woman broadcasting enemy propaganda to American troops. Captured GI Pete Sherman (Byron Barr) is one of a group of POWS slated to be interviewed on Tokyo Rose's radio program. Instead of advising his comrades to surrender (as ordered), Sherman uses his innate Yankee knowhow to hoist the treacherous oriental deejay on her own petard. Managing to make his escape, Sherman hooks up with the Japanese Underground, convincing anti-militarist Charlie Otani (Keye Luke) to aid in a kidnapping plot aimed at Tokyo Rose.
How DOooo You Do
Chinese Detective
Murder occurs when several of the most popular radio personalities of the '40s converge on a desert resort.
First Yank into Tokyo
Haan-Soo
A U.S. pilot undergoes plastic surgery and drops into Japan to get a captive scientist's (Marc Cramer) atomic secrets.
Secret Agent X-9
Ah Fong
American, Chinese and Australian agents join forces to stop the Nazis from obtaining the formula for synthetic fuel.
Between Two Women
Dr. Lee
A young doctor proves his worth at a metropolitan hospital.
3 Men in White
Dr. Lee Wong How
Gillespie has to finally choose his official assistant, or Red and Lee are going to kill themselves in competition. So, it's another diagnosis competition. Lee's assignment is a small girl who falls ill whenever she eats candy. Red has to cure a girl's mother of a debilitating case of arthritis. But when Red needs Lee's help, will either one live with Gillespie's choice?
Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble
Dr. Lee
Andy is going to Wainwright College as did his father. He sees a pretty blonde on the train and he is alternately winked at or slapped every time he sees her. Andy is clueless. On the train Andy meets Kay and Dr. Standish who are both headed for Wainwright. Andy likes Kay, but Dr. Standish also seems to take an interest in her. Things are going well at College with Kay, but the blonde is nice one minute and ignores Andy the next. When Andy finds out that the blonde is really identical twins, he tries to help them out with their father but gets caught at their rooming house after midnight.
Salute to the Marines
'Flashy' Logaz
It is a comic book propaganda film which has Beery as a retired USMC NCO who, when the Japanese invade the Philippines, leads a heroic defense, first by strangling a Nazi agent, and then dying in his dress blues uniform while blowing up a bridge.
Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case
Dr. Lee Wong How
In this 13th entry to the Dr. Kildare series, the medical staff of Blair General hospital are challenged with further dilemmas, not the least of which includes a prison inmate who Dr. Gillespie believes belongs instead in an insane asylum.
The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
Captain Wing
A movie serial in 12 chapters: The famous comic strip character is on a mission to protect a secret tunnel passage between China and India.
Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant
Dr. Lee Wong How
The doctor (Lionel Barrymore) has a Kansan (Van Johnson), an Australian and an Asian from Brooklyn to choose from.
Destination Unknown
Secretary
Foreign spies and police pursue an attractive Dutch spy throughout Peking.
The Falcon's Brother
Jerry
A gentlemanly detective known as The Falcon calls on his brother to help him stop the Nazis from assassinating a key diplomat.
Mexican Spitfire's Elephant
Lao Lee - Chinese Magician
A pair of shipboard smugglers have a large diamond hidden inside a small elephant statuette, which they plant on absentminded Lord Epping to get it past customs. Now, his lordship is visiting Uncle Matt Lindsay who looks just like him. Thanks to flirtatious Diana's efforts to get the elephant back, the comic confusion proliferates, with 'spitfire' Carmelita (now a blonde) playing a prominent part.
Across the Pacific
Steamship Office Clerk
Rick Leland makes no secret of the fact he has no loyalty to his home country after he is court-marshaled out of the army and boards a Japanese ship for the Orient in late 1941. But has Leland really been booted out, or is there some other motive for his getting close to fellow passenger Doctor Lorenz? Any motive for getting close to attractive traveller Alberta Marlow would however seem pretty obvious.
Somewhere I'll Find You
Thomas Chang
Brothers feud over a girl they both fall for while covering World War II.
Invisible Agent
Surgeon
The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany in this comedy-thriller.
Spy Ship
Koshimo Haru
A radio reporter begins to suspect that a commentator at his station may be using her position to broadcast shipping information to enemy spies. With the help of the girl's sister, he sets out to expose the spy and her Nazi gang.
A Tragedy at Midnight
Ah Foo
The host of a whodunit radio show finds himself involved in his own mystery when he awakens to find a woman with a knife in her back in his bedroom.
A Yank on the Burma Road
Kim How
A celebrated New York cabbie is pressed into service for a perilous journey through World War II China.
Mr. and Mrs. North
Kumi
Married sleuths (Gracie Allen, William Post Jr.) find a corpse in their closet and round up suspects.
North to the Klondike
K. Wellington Wong
Based upon the novel by Jack London, two friends in the Klondike aid settlers being terrorized by outlaws.
No Hands on the Clock
Severino
A wise-cracking private detective's honeymoon is interrupted by a kidnapping case.
Burma Convoy
Lin Taiyen
A truck convoy traveling the Burma Road is menaced by a group of smugglers.
Let's Go Collegiate
Buck Wing
Rawley University is about to receive a star athlete who could give it the first championship rowing team it's ever had. Unfortunately, he gets drafted into the army before he's able to join the team. Two of the team's members get the bright idea of passing off a burly truck driver as the "athlete". Complications ensue.
Bowery Blitzkrieg
Clancy
The East Side Kids discover that one of their own, Danny, is torn between staying and school and becoming a boxer, and is getting mixed up with gangsters.
The Gang's All Here
George Lee
Two friends take jobs as truck drivers, unaware that the trucking company is being targeted by a gang of saboteurs who will stop at nothing, including murder, to stop them.
The Green Hornet Strikes Again!
Kato
Second serial featuring The Green Hornet and Kato.
No, No, Nanette
Sung, Oriental Cafe Manager (uncredited)
Perky young Nanette attempts to save the marriage of her uncle and aunt by untangling Uncle Jimmy from several innocent but ensnaring flirtations. Attempting one such unentanglement, Nanette enlists the help of theatrical producer Bill Trainor, who promptly falls in love with her. The same thing happens when artist Tom Gillespie is called on for help. But soon Uncle Jimmy's flirtations become too numerous, and Nanette's romances with Tom and Bill run into trouble. Will Uncle Jimmy's marriage survive, and will Nanette find happiness with Tom, Bill, or somebody else?
Comrade X
World Press Attendee with Glasses
An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.
Phantom of Chinatown
James Lee Wong
In the middle of a pictorial lecture on his recent expedition to the Mongolian Desert, Dr. John Benton,the famous explorer, drinks from the water bottle on his lecture table, collapses and dies. His last words "Eternal Fire" are the only clue Chinese detective Jimmy Wong and Captain Street of the police department have to work on.
Wildcat Bus
Tai
A broke playboy signs on to help a young beauty save her ailing bus line.
The Green Hornet
Kato
A newspaper publisher and his Korean servant fight crime as vigilantes who pose as a notorious masked gangster and his aide.
Barricade
Ling
In China, a singer and a journalist meet while traveling on a train attacked by bandits.
Sued for Libel
Chang Howe
A New York City newspaper is sued for libel after reporting the wrong verdict in a murder trial.
Disputed Passage
Andrew Abbott
A doctor's medical studies are threatened by his infatuation with a Chinese girl. The girl returns to China, but complications ensue when she runs into him in Nanking during a Japanese bombing raid.
North of Shanghai
Jimmy Riley
In this newspaper drama, a female reporter and a newsreel cameraman are both assigned to cover the Sino-Japanese war. They meet on the boat ride over and decide to team up. They are further assisted by a Chinese cameraman. The three of them manage to expose of spy ring operating out of the Shanghai office of the woman's newspaper.
Mr. Moto's Gamble
Lee Chan
Celebrated as supersleuth, Mr. Moto comes out fighting when a brutal boxing match turns into cold-blooded murder! Assisted by detective-in-training Lee Chan, Moto sets out to track down the killer based on a single ominous clue: a poisoned boxing glove! But when Moto's hunch points to a corrupt gambling syndicate, he's forced to wager his very life to unmask the culprit—or go down for the count...permanently!
International Settlement
Dr. Wong
In Shanghai amidst Sino-Japanese warfare an adventurer (Sanders) collecting money from gun suppliers falls in loves with a French singer (Del Rio).
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Lee Chan
Although Charlie and Lee are in Monaco for an art exhibit, they become caught up in a feud between rival financiers which involves the Chan's in a web of blackmail and murder.
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Lee Chan, #1 Son
Returning from European exile where she avoided testifying against her criminal associates, a former singer with a tell-all diary is murdered to insure her silence.
The Good Earth
Elder Son
China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Lee Chan
Get ready for a Gold Medal murder mystery! This "tense, thrilling mystery" ('California Congress of Parents and Teachers') pits Charlie Chan against international spies who are using the Berlin Olympic games as the perfect cover...for cold-blooded murder!
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Lee Chan
A dangerous amnesiac escapes from an asylum, hides in the opera house, and is suspected of getting revenge on those who tried to murder him 13 years ago.
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Lee Chan
When a friend of Charlie's is found kicked to death by his own race horse on board a Honolulu-bound liner, the detective discovers foul play and uncovers an international gambling ring.
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Lee Chan
While visiting the circus with his family, Charlie is recruited by the big top's co-owner to investigate threatening letters that he's received.
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Lee Chan
When a prominent official is murdered at a banquet honoring Charle Chan, the detective and son Lee team up to expose an opium-smuggling ring.
Here's to Romance
Saito
Kathleen Gerard, a high society wife fed up with her husband's artistic "protegées", decides to take one of her own in Nino, a promising tenor, patronizing him to study in Paris. He and her girlfriend are perfectly happy until the Gerards pay a visit and Mrs. Gerard starts to show too much interest in him.
Shanghai
Chinese Ambassador's Son
A New York socialite travels to Shanghai to visit her ailing aunt and falls in love with a Russian banker, who harbors a family secret.
Mad Love
Dr. Wong
An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her wounded pianist husband's hands with the hands of a knife murderer--hands which still have the urge to throw knives.
Oil for the Lamps of China
Young Chinese Soldier
An American oil company representative almost sacrifices his marriage for his career.
Murder in the Fleet
Consul's Secretary (Uncredited)
A traitor is lurking somewhere aboard the USS Carolina, and Lt. Tom Randolph is determined to find the offender. First a revolutionary new piece of technology -- an electric firing device -- is sabotaged. Then one of the cruiser's crew is murdered. In order to catch the killer, the captain locks down the ship. With foreign dignitaries, corporate goons and even Tom's girlfriend, Betty, trapped on the vessel, there is no shortage of suspects.
Charlie Chan in Paris
Lee Chan
Charlie's visit to Paris, ostensibly a vacation, is really a mission to investigate a bond-forgery racket. But his agent, apache dancer Nardi is killed before she can tell him much. The case, complicated by a false murder accusation for banker's daughter Yvette, climaxes with a strange journey through the Paris sewers.
The Painted Veil
Shay Key Fong (uncredited)
The wife of a doctor in China falls in love with a diplomat.