Early life

Kwouk was born in Warrington, Lancashire, but was brought up in Shanghai. Between the ages of 12 and 16 he attended the Jesuit Mission School there, which he described as "the Far East equivalent of Eton". He left China in 1947 when his Chinese parents returned to Britain and was then sent to the United States to complete his education. In 1953 he graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. The Kwouk family fortune had been lost in the 1949 revolution and in 1954 he came back to Britain, where a girlfriend "nagged into acting".

Career

Kwouk made his film debut in the 1957 film Windom's Way. One of his earliest film roles was in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) where he played the leader of a prison revolt who later aids the main character in heroically leading orphans to safety. He subsequently appeared in numerous films and television programmes. He was best known for playing Cato (originally spelled "Kato") Fong, Inspector Clouseau's manservant, in the Pink Panther film series. The character was first introduced in A Shot in the Dark (1964), the second film in the series, and was a role that Kwouk would reprise on another six occasions until the 2006 series reboot. The running gag was that Cato was ordered to attack Clouseau when he least expected it to keep him alert, usually resulting in Clouseau's flat being wrecked. Amid the chaos, the phone would ring and Cato would calmly answer it with "Inspector/Chief Inspector Clouseau's residence," before dutifully handing the phone to his employer and being thumped by Clouseau.

He was a stalwart of several 1960s ITC television series, such as Danger Man, The Saint and Man of the World, when an oriental character was required. Kwouk featured as one of the leads in the short-lived series The Sentimental Agent (1963) and had minor roles in three James Bond films. In Goldfinger (1964) he played Mr. Ling, a Chinese expert in nuclear fission; in the non-Eon spoof Casino Royale (1967) he played a general and in You Only Live Twice (1967) Kwouk played the part of a Japanese operative of Blofeld credited as Spectre 3. In 1968, he appeared with Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn in The Shoes of the Fisherman.

A reference to Kwouk's appearances in several films with Peter Sellers is found in the opening scene of The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) where Sellers says to him "your face is familiar." His next major role was as the honourable but misguided Major Yamauchi in the World War II television drama Tenko (1981-84). Kwouk featured in many British television productions that called for a man of oriental appearance. As a result, he became a familiar face in the United Kingdom and appeared as himself in the Harry Hill Show as well as several of Hill's live tours.

In 2000, he appeared in an episode of the syndicated western TV series Queen of Swords as Master Kiyomasa, an aged Japanese warrior-priest. Sung-Hi Lee played his female pupil, Kami. He provided voice-overs on the spoof Japanese betting show Banzai (2001-04) and subsequently appeared in adverts for the betting company, Bet365. From 2002 to the series's end in 2010, he had a regular role as one of the three main characters in the long-running series Last of the Summer Wine, as 'Electrical' Entwistle. His later work also included voice acting for audio theatre, video games, and television commercials.

Personal life

Kwouk married Caroline Tebbs in Wandsworth, Surrey, in the summer of 1961. Their son Christopher was born in 1974. In the 2011 New Year Honours List, Burt Kwouk was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama. Kwouk died on 24 May 2016, aged 85, and was survived by his wife, his son Christopher and four grandchildren.

Selected filmography

Film

• Windom's Way (1957), Father Amyam's aide
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Li
• Expresso Bongo (1959), Soho youth
• The Sinister Man (1961), Feng
• The Terror of the Tongs (1961), Ming
• Satan Never Sleeps (1962), Ah Wang
• The War Lover (1962), Chung - Radio Operator on B-17
• Goldfinger (1964), Mr Ling
• A Shot in the Dark (1964), Cato - Clouseau's man-servant
• Curse of the Fly (1965), Tai
• Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), Export manager
• The Sandwich Man (1966), Ice Cream Man
• Lost Command (1966), Officer
• The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), Feng
• You Only Live Twice (1967), Spectre 3
• Casino Royale (1967), Chinese general
• The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Peng
• Nobody Runs Forever (1968), Pham Chimh
• The Chairman (1969), Chang Shou
• Deep End (1970), Hot Dog salesman
• Girls Come First (1975), Sashimi
• The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Cato
• Rollerball (1975), Japanese doctor
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Cato
• The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977), Father Shapiro
• Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), Cato
• The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), A servant
• Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), Cato
• Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Cato
• Plenty (1985), Mr. Aung
• Empire of the Sun (1987), Mr Chen
• I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1990), Fu King owner
• Air America (1990), General Lu Soong
• Leon the Pig Farmer (1992), Art collector
• Carry On Columbus (1992) Wang
• Son of the Pink Panther (1993), Cato
• Peggy Su! (1998), Dad
• Kiss of the Dragon (2001), Uncle Tai
• Beyond Borders (2003), Colonel Gao

TV

• Hancock's Half Hour: "How to Win Money and Influence People" (1957) 1st Japanese (credited as Burd Kwok)
• Danger Man
• Man of the World
• The Sentimental Agent (1963) Chin
• The Avengers
• The Saint
• The Champions: "The Beginning" (1967) Chinese Major
• Shirley's World: "A Hell of an Engineer" (1972) Shunji
• Lucky Feller (1976) Chinese waiter
• Warship (1977) Foreign Minister Zee Khay Lim
• The Water Margin: (1976-1978) Narrator (English dub)
• It Ain't Half Hot Mum (1977-1978), Me Thant
• The Tomorrow People: "The Lost Gods" (1978)
• Monkey Magic (1978-1979), Narrator (English dub)
• Shoestring (1980) Mr Wing
• Minder (1980), Sojo
• Tenko (1981), Major Yamauchi
• Doctor Who: "Four to Doomsday" (1982), Lin Futu
• Tickle on the Tum (1984), Willie Wok
• Howards' Way (1987), Mr Lee
• Noble House (1988), Phillip Chen
• The House of Eliott (1991), Peter Lo Ching
• Lovejoy (1993): "The Peking Gun"
• Space Precinct (1994): "Protect and Survive", Slik Ostrasky
• The Harry Hill Show (1997-2000)
• Queen of Swords: "The Dragon" (2001), Master Kiyomassa
• Banzai (2001-2004), voice-over
• Last of the Summer Wine (2002-2010), Entwistle
• Judge John Deed (2005): "Separation of Powers"
• Silent Witness (2006): "Cargo"
• Honest (2008), Mr Hong
• Spirit Warriors (2009), Shen
• Whatever Happened to Harry Hill (2012)

Audio theatre

• Doctor Who: Loups-Garoux (2001), Doctor Hayashi

Video games

• Fire Warrior (2003), El'Lusha
• EyeToy: Play (2003), Announcer

Miscellaneous

• Film trailer - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974), Asian Voiceover Announcer
• A 17-minute interview with Burt Kwouk from 2010 about his appearances in ITC shows is featured on the Network DVD The Sentimental Agent.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]