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Peter Chong (actor)

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Peter Chong
Born
John Kohnie Kuh

December 2, 1898
DiedJanuary 13, 1985(1985-01-13) (aged 86)
EducationOberlin College
OccupationActor
Spouses
(m. 1929; div. 1933)
Eileen Loh
(m. 1945)

Peter Chong (born John Kohnie Kuh, and sometimes credited as Goo Chong or Peter Chong Goe; December 2, 1898 – January 13, 1985) was a Chinese-American character actor who worked in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s.[1]

Biography

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Origins

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Chong was born in 1898 at Honolulu, Hawaii.[2] He attended Oberlin College; he eventually earned a master's degree and a PhD.

Acting career

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He appeared in a number of Broadway productions and had a vaudeville act before going to Hollywood to work in film.[3][4] When he arrived in Los Angeles, he was under contract at Warner Brothers.[5] He also worked part-time as an interpreter for the Los Angeles Police Department.[6] For much of his career, he was cast in Japanese, Indonesian, and Hawaiian roles — he didn't play a Chinese role until 1953.[7]

Personal life

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He and his first wife, Ah He "Soo" Young, had a vaudeville act together.[8] His second marriage was to Eileen Loh, a schoolteacher; they had a daughter together named Molly.

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Nash, Jay Robert (2019-11-01). The Encyclopedia of Best Films: A Century of All the Finest Movies, K-R. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538134153.
  2. ^ "McClintick May Run Legend on Cut Rates". The New York Daily News. 22 Oct 1938. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  3. ^ "Gossip of the Theatre". The Standard Union. 15 Nov 1928. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  4. ^ "Peter Chong Goe". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  5. ^ Pollack, Arthur (20 Dec 1946). "Theatre". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  6. ^ "Chong in Picture". The Los Angeles Times. 14 May 1953. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  7. ^ "Peter Chong Finally Cast as Chinese". The Valley Times. 18 Feb 1953. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  8. ^ "Chinese Elope!". The Central New Jersey Home News. 29 Jul 1927. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  9. ^ Feng, Peter X.; Affron, Charles; Affron, Mirella Jona; Lyons, Robert (2002). Screening Asian Americans. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813530253.