“Forgotten Hollywood”- A Treasure of the Orient…
Manny P. here…
Burt Kwouk was best known for playing Cato Fong in the Pink Panther series of films. The actor also appeared in three James Bond movies: Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, and Casino Royale. He was born in Manchester, England, but grew up in Shanghai.
He is most recognizable for his big-screen role as Inspector Clouseau’s inept manservant, first cast in 1964 in A Shot in the Dark. The character became a hit with fans as their quirky friendship of servant, and sometimes attacker, developed. A running gag throughout the films was marital arts specialist Cato would attack Clouseau at random, and often inopportune moments, to keep him on guard. During each production, actor Herbert Lom, best known for playing the hysterically-twitching Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, remained his closest friend. Kwouk continued in the role following the death of Clouseau actor Peter Sellers in 1980. He last appeared as Cato in 1993.
PETER SELLERS BURT KWOUK
Kwouk’s big break in cinema began with The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. He also had a roles in Rollerball and Empire of the Sun. Curiously, Burt was the Asian narrator in the film trailer for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. On television, he guest-starred in The Saint and The Avengers. A British subject, he was honored with an OBE for his Services to Drama in the 2011 New Year’s Honours list.
He often noted that his silly martial arts antics were a satirical homage to Bruce Lee and others in the cinematic genre. The comically sinister Burt Kwouk was 85.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 24th, 2016 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.