Khigh Dhiegh

Khigh Alx Dhiegh, born Kenneth G. Dickerson on August 25, 1916, in Spring Lake, New Jersey, was an American actor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudanese ancestry who built a career spanning Broadway, television, and film. He described his mother's background as Spanish, English, Egyptian, and Chinese, and his father's as Portuguese, Italian, and South African Zulu. Raised in New York City across all boroughs except Staten Island, Dhiegh legally changed his name from Kenneth G. Dickerson, with the change taking effect on November 25, 1962. He died on October 25, 1991, at Desert Samaritan Hospital in Mesa, Arizona, from kidney and heart failure, having relocated to Arizona in 1977.

His path into acting began in the early 1930s when a customer at his mother's bookshop invited him to understudy the role of a butler in Noël Coward's Design for Living. That early opportunity led to a sustained career in acting, producing, and directing. His Broadway credits include The Teahouse of the August Moon and Flower Drum Song, the latter appearing in 1960. Off Broadway, he earned an Obie Award in 1961 for his performance as Schlink in In the Jungle of Cities.

Dhiegh became widely recognized for portraying East Asian roles, particularly villains. He played brainwashing expert Dr. Yen Lo in the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate, and his most enduring television role was Chinese agent Wo Fat on Hawaii Five-O, a recurring part he held from the series pilot in 1968 through its final episode in 1980. He also starred as the title character in the short-lived 1975 television series Khan!, and in 1988 appeared as Four Finger Wu in the television miniseries Noble House, based on James Clavell's novel. In 1965, he recorded Poems of St. John of the Cross: Volume II, released on Folkways Records.

Beyond performance, Dhiegh was deeply engaged with Taoist philosophy. His interest in the I Ching and Taoism began in 1935, which he credited to his longtime friend Chao-Li Chi. He authored several books on the subject, including The Eleventh Wing, and in 1971 founded the Taoist Sanctuary, now known as the Taoist Institute, in Hollywood, California, while living in the San Fernando Valley. He held a doctorate in theology and later served as rector of a Taoist sanctuary in Tempe, Arizona called the Inner Truth Looking Place, where he conducted weekly services and sponsored tea ceremonies in the Phoenix metropolitan area. In the 1970s he took up jewelry making as a hobby, eventually selling pieces to help support the sanctuary. One of his final public appearances was a 1990 interview on One World, during which he discussed the concept of World Citizenry. His contributions to Taoism are examined in the book Taoism for Dummies, published by John Wiley and Sons Canada in 2013.