Leonard Strong

Known for ActingBorn 1908-08-12Died 1980-01-23Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Leonard Clarence Strong (born 12 August 1908, Salt Lake City, Utah - d. 23 January 1980, Glendale, California was a prolific American character actor specialising in playing Asian roles. Beginning with Little Tokyo, U.S.A in 1942, Strong played a gamut of roles as Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Thais, etc. in films such as Dragon Seed (1944),Up in Arms (1944), Jack London (1943), Salute to the Marines (1943), Behind the Rising Sun (1943), Night Plane from Chungking (1943), Bombardier (1943),Underground Agent (1942), and Manila Calling (1942). He played the Thai interpreter in both Anna and the King of Siam and its musical remake The King and I. Strong also appeared in the movie Shane (1953) as homesteader Ernie Wright. Strong achieved some pop culture notoriety for his role on television as "The Claw" on Get Smart. He appeared in a season-five episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) "The Cure" written by horror writer Robert Bloch. Set deep in an Amazon jungle, Strong plays Luiz, a loyal native who speaks broken English and saves his employer, an oil explorer, from the attempted murder of his supposedly mentally ill and unfaithful wife. Something gets lost in the translation when his employer wants Strong to take her to a psychiatrist 200 miles down river, and he takes her instead to a native headshrinker. The denouement comes when Strong returns alone to the shock of his employer. He says, "I do what you tell me. I take her to my people. The best headshrinkers in the world". Then, pulling his employer's wife's now shrunken head out of a bag, he says, "Best job in the world." Another notable television role was his haunting and mostly silent portrayal of the title character in the original Twilight Zone episode, "The Hitch-Hiker", which is often listed as one of the ten best episodes of the series. With his thumb extended, seeking a ride, and asking "Going my way?", Strong is seen in one of the half-dozen, seconds-long scenes used at the start of every one of the 30 DVDs in the CBS DVD five-season collection, "The Twilight Zone, The Definitive Edition."Read more

Movies & web series

Underground Agent

The Twilight Zone

The Islanders

Get Smart

The Lone Wolf

The Untouchables

The Wonderful World of Disney

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Sword of the Avenger

Dr. Fu Manchu

Shane

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

77 Sunset Strip

The King and I

The Keys of the Kingdom

The Alaskans

Peter Gunn

Cargo to Capetown

Scared Stiff

The Naked Jungle

Escape from Zahrain

Behind the Rising Sun

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Cult of the Cobra

Back to Bataan

Jewels of Brandenburg

First Yank into Tokyo

Backfire

Destination Gobi

Blood on the Sun

One Step Beyond

The Atomic City

Bombardier

Hell's Half Acre

Jet Attack

Dangerous Millions

Dangerous Assignment

Navy Log

Bengal Brigade

Terry and the Pirates

Backlash

Prisoner of War