Keye Luke - Career

Career

Luke made his film debut in The Painted Veil (1934), and the following year gained his first big role, as Charlie Chan's eldest son in Charlie Chan in Paris. He worked so well with Warner Oland, the actor playing Chan, that "Number One Son" became a regular character in the series, alternately helping and distracting 'Pop' Chan in each of his murder cases.

Keye Luke left the Charlie Chan series in 1938, shortly after Oland died. The unfinished Oland-Luke film Charlie Chan at the Ringside was completed as Mr. Moto's Gamble, with Luke now opposite Peter Lorre.

Unlike some performers who failed to establish themselves beyond a single role, Keye Luke continued to work prolifically in Hollywood, at several studios. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast him in a recurring role in its Dr. Kildare film series, and Monogram Pictures featured him in its Frankie Darro comedies and starred him as Mr. Wong in Phantom of Chinatown. RKO Radio Pictures used him in its popular adventures of The Falcon and Mexican Spitfire. Luke also worked at Universal Pictures, where he played two-fisted valet/chauffeur Kato in its Green Hornet serials. In 1946 Universal mounted a low-budget serial consisting largely of action footage from older films; Keye Luke was hired to match old footage of Sabu in the serial Lost City of the Jungle.

In 1948, Keye Luke returned to the Chan mysteries, which were now being produced by Monogram and starred Roland Winters as Chan. "Number One Son" appeared in the last two Chan features, The Feathered Serpent and The Sky Dragon. In both of these films, Luke was older than the actor playing his father.

Luke continued to play character parts in motion pictures. He had a featured role in The Chairman (1969) starring Gregory Peck. He provided the voice of the evil Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon (1973) starring Bruce Lee. Luke played the mysterious old Chinatown shopowner Mr. Wing in the two Gremlins movies, he had a significant role in Woody Allen's 1990 movie Alice, and was the voice of Zoltar and Colonel Cronus in Battle of the Planets.

In 1958, Luke had a featured Broadway role in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Flower Drum Song, directed by Gene Kelly. The soundtrack album captures his singing of the part of Mr. Wang, the family patriarch.

Keye Luke also worked in television. In 1955, he played Li Wong, a laundryman and property owner in the episode "Annie and the Chinese Puzzle" of the syndicated western series, Annie Oakley. In 1972, "Number One Son" ascended to the role of Charlie Chan himself, thus becoming the first actor of Chinese descent to play the role: he supplied the voice of "Mr. Chan" in the animated television series The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. He was also known for his role of Master Po in the television series, Kung Fu. He appeared in a few episodes of Dragnet, including roles as a restaurant owner in "The Big Amateur" and a jade dealer in "The Jade Story." He appeared also in episodes of M*A*S*H; most memorably "Patent 4077," in which he played Mr Shin, an itinerant metalsmith who made a surgical clamp the surgeons needed for a critical operation. In the mid 1980s, Luke played 'The Ancient One' on the soap opera, General Hospital. In 1985, he appeared in the show Miami Vice as General Lao Li, head of an Asian drug cartel in the episode "Golden Triangle (Part II)". In 1986, Luke played the gardener in an episode of The Golden Girls.

Luke voiced Brak on the original 1966 Hanna Barbara series Space Ghost and all of the villains on the Scooby Doo, Where Are You? episode "Mystery Mask Mixup". He played Governor Donald Cory in a 1969 episode of Star Trek entitled "Whom Gods Destroy", and was going to play Doctor Noonien Soong in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Brothers" but illness prevented him from doing so; Brent Spiner ultimately took over the role.

In the Fractured Fairy Tales episode "The Enchanted Fly," one of the rewards offered to the man who would rescue and marry the princess is "an autographed picture of Keye Luke."

For his contribution to show business, Luke was honored by having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on the sidewalk in front of 7000 Hollywood Blvd.