Philip Ahn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip Ahn (born Pil Lip Ahn (안필립), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was a Korean American actor. He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ahn's first film was A Scream in the Night in 1935. He appeared in the Bing Crosby film Anything Goes, though director Lewis Milestone had initially rejected him because his English was too good for the part. His first credited roles came in 1936 in The General Died at Dawn and Stowaway, opposite Shirley Temple. He starred opposite Anna May Wong in Daughter of Shanghai (1937) and King of Chinatown (1937).

During World War II, Ahn often played Japanese villains in war films. Mistakenly thought to be Japanese, he received several death threats. He enlisted in the United States Army, having served in the Special Services as an entertainer. He was discharged early because of an injured ankle and returned to making films.

Ahn appeared in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Around the World in Eighty Days, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Paradise, Hawaiian Style, with Elvis Presley. He got to play Korean characters in Korean War movies such as Battle Circus (1953) and Battle Hymn (1956). In 1952, Ahn made his television debut on the Schlitz Playhouse, a series he would make three additional appearances on. Ahn would also be cast in four episodes of ABC's Adventures in Paradise, four episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers crime drama Hawaiian Eye, and the CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-O. He made three appearances each on Crossroads, Bonanza, and M*A*S*H. He would also appear in two television movies.

Ahn's most notable television role was as "Master Kan" on the television series Kung Fu. A Presbyterian, Ahn felt that the Taoist homilies his character quoted did not contradict his own religious faith.

M*A*S*H

7.9

Around the World in Eighty Days

6.6

Wonder Woman

7.0

Bonanza

7.5

Mission: Impossible

7.6

Shock Corridor

7.0

One-Eyed Jacks

6.7

Kung Fu

7.6

The Time Tunnel

7.6

Hawaii Five-O

7.1

Perry Mason

7.7

They Were Expendable

6.6

The Streets of San Francisco

7.0

Thoroughly Modern Millie

6.9

Sanford and Son

7.5

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

6.0

Across the Pacific

6.6

The Wild Wild West

7.6

The Good Earth

6.3

Ironside

6.8

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

7.2

Back to Bataan

6.1

Never So Few

5.4

Impact

6.1

The Big Valley

6.1

Mannix

6.7

The Keys of the Kingdom

7.0

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

6.1

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

5.1

Have Gun, Will Travel

7.4

The Left Hand of God

6.3

Macao

6.2

Halls of Montezuma

5.9

Yesterday's Enemy

7.2

My Three Sons

6.5

Dragnet

6.4

Wanted: Dead or Alive

6.9

Police Woman

6.2

The World's Greatest Athlete

5.3

Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon

7.0

Stowaway

6.7

December 7th

5.7

It Takes a Thief

7.0

The F.B.I.

5.5

The Great Impostor

6.9

Charlie Chan in Honolulu

6.4

The Story of Dr. Wassell

6.3

Battle Hymn

6.5

Confessions of an Opium Eater

5.6

Singapore

5.9

The General Died at Dawn

6.2

Thank You, Mr. Moto

6.3

Hell's Half Acre

5.4

They Met in Bombay

7.3

Love, American Style

6.0

The Chinese Ring

4.9

Something to Sing About

6.2

Dragon Seed

6.4

Klondike Annie

6.4

His Majesty O'Keefe

6.1

The Karate Killers

4.9

China Girl

5.4

Daughter of Shanghai

5.4

China

6.8

The Purple Heart

6.0

The Miracle of the Bells

6.3

Laredo

6.3

One Step Beyond

5.6

The Magician

6.7

The Creeper

4.5

Diamond Head

5.4

The Shanghai Story

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Ship Ahoy

5.9

Hawaiian Eye

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Switch

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Lawman

5.4

The Rebel

5.1

Four Star Playhouse

6.1

Women in the Night

3.9

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

6.4

God Is My Co-Pilot

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Fair Wind to Java

4.9

I Was an American Spy

6.2

A Scream in the Night

4.7

Island of Lost Men

5.7

Checkmate

4.1

The Sex Serum of Dr. Blake

3.7

The Big Hangover

6.1

King of Chinatown

5.8

The Tuttles of Tahiti

5.5

The Shadow

6.5

Submarine Raider

5.0

Behind the Rising Sun

5.7

Anna and the King

6.5

Adventures in Paradise

5.7

The Third Man

6.7

Hawaii Calls

5.4

Drums of Fu Manchu

6.1

Rogues' Regiment

6.5

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

5.6

State Department: File 649

5.0

Betrayal from the East

5.8

Jump Into Hell

4.0

Hong Kong Confidential

5.1

China Sky

5.5

Let's Get Tough

6.0

Richard Diamond, Private Detective

6.2

The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

4.5

Navy Log

4.5

Stoney Burke

5.7

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

6.2

Ensign O'Toole

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Battle Zone

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Intrigue

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China Passage

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Desirable

7.3

General Electric Theater

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Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

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Telephone Time

6.3

Japanese War Bride

5.5

Target Hong Kong

5.0

A Girl Named Tamiko

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Barricade

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Disputed Passage

5.5

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack

5.0

Around the World

5.0

China Venture

7.5

Pete and Gladys

6.5

Tightrope

5.5

Jefferson Drum

4.5

Kraft Mystery Theatre

6.0

Jungle Jim

5.0

Hey, Jeannie!

5.5

A Yank on the Burma Road

4.0

Panama Patrol

5.0

The Sickle or the Cross

6.0

Shanghai

7.0

Red Snow

3.0

Roaring Timber

5.0

The Cobra Strikes

5.0

China's Little Devils

4.0

China Corsair

5.5

The Islanders

8.0

North of Shanghai

0.0

Tex Rides with the Boy Scouts

0.0

The Killer Who Wouldn't Die

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The Way to the Gold

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Red Barry

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Forever Yours

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Cocoon

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Secrets of Monte Carlo

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Don Winslow of the Coast Guard

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Judgment: The Court Martial of the Tiger of Malaya — General Yamashita

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Johnny Midnight

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