Keye Luke

Keye Luke (陸錫麒; June 18, 1904 – January 12, 1991) was a Chinese-born American actor and visual artist. Born in Canton (Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty, he was the son of Lee Luke, a second-generation Chinese American born in San Francisco, and Down Cook, who was from Guangzhou. While his father was visiting China, Luke's parents met, and the family later relocated to the United States, settling in Seattle, Washington. Luke grew up in Seattle's Chinatown, where his father operated an art and import shop. He attended Franklin High School, contributing cartoons and illustrations to school publications, and briefly studied engineering at the University of Washington. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. His younger brother Edwin Luke also pursued an acting career, appearing in the Charlie Chan film series, and the Luke family includes Washington assistant attorney-general Wing Luke.

Before entering film, Luke worked as an artist in Seattle and later in Hollywood. He contributed to several murals inside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, produced original artwork for the pressbook of King Kong (1933), and painted a mural for the casino set in The Shanghai Gesture (1941). In the 1950s he published a limited edition set of pen and ink drawings of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and created illustrations for multiple books, including The Unfinished Song of Achmed Mohammed, Blessed Mother Goose, and an unpublished edition of Messer Marco Polo. He also designed dust jackets for books published in the 1950s and 1960s. It was through this studio artwork that he was first recruited for film roles.

Luke made his film debut in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Painted Veil (1934). His first major role came the following year in Charlie Chan in Paris (1935), in which he played Lee Chan, the eldest son of the detective Charlie Chan, a character known as "Number One Son." He appeared seven times in the series opposite Warner Oland and left following Oland's death in 1938. The unfinished Oland-Luke production Charlie Chan at the Ringside was reworked as Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938), with Luke appearing alongside Peter Lorre. He later returned to the Chan series, then produced by Monogram Pictures with Roland Winters in the title role, for The Feathered Serpent (1948) and Sky Dragon (1949). In both films, Luke was older than the actor portraying his father.

Luke was among the most prominent Asian actors in mid-20th century American cinema and holds the distinction of being the first Chinese-American contract player signed by RKO, Universal Pictures, 20th Century-Fox, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was also a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. At MGM he held a recurring role in the Dr. Kildare film series. At Monogram Pictures he appeared in the Frankie Darro comedies and starred as Mr. Wong in Phantom of Chinatown, playing the detective as an ordinary American of Chinese descent with no foreign accent. RKO used him in The Falcon series and Mexican Spitfire, while Universal cast him as Kato, the sidekick to the Green Hornet, in its serials from 1939 to 1941. He also appeared in The Chairman (1969) with Gregory Peck, dubbed the voice of the villain Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon (1973), and played the Chinatown shopowner Mr. Wing in Gremlins (1984) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). He had a significant role in Woody Allen's Alice (1990).

Luke's Broadway career spanned 1958 to 1960. He appeared in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song, directed by Gene Kelly, which opened in 1958. In the production he played Mr. Wang, the family patriarch, and performed the role on the original cast album.

On television, Luke made numerous guest appearances across decades, including four episodes of The F.B.I. and seven television movies. He was a regular cast member in the short-lived sitcoms Anna and the King (1972), starring Yul Brynner, and Sidekicks (1986–87). He played Master Po, the mentor of Kwai Chang Caine, in the series Kung Fu from 1972 to 1975. In 1972 he voiced Charlie Chan in the animated series The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, becoming the first actor of Chinese descent to portray the character. He also voiced Brak in Space Ghost (1966–68) and Zoltar, The Great Spirit, and Colonel Cronus in Battle of the Planets (1978–80). Additional television credits include a role as Governor Donald Cory in the Star Trek episode "Whom Gods Destroy" (1969), an appearance in The Golden Girls in 1986, two separate roles in Night Court, and a storyline in the ABC soap opera General Hospital in 1985, in which he played a character called "The Ancient One." He was originally cast as Doctor Noonien Soong in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Brothers" before illness led to Brent Spiner taking over the role.

Luke received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Asian/Pacific American Artists in 1986 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He married Ethel Davis in 1942; she predeceased him in 1979, and they had one child. Luke died of a stroke on January 12, 1991, at the age of 86, and is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.