Philip Ahn

Known for ActingBorn 1905-03-29Died 1978-02-28Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

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.Read more

Movies & web series

Don Winslow of the Coast Guard

Red Barry

Cocoon

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

M*A*S*H

The Islanders

The Way to the Gold

Secrets of Monte Carlo

Kung Fu

North of Shanghai

China Venture

Perry Mason

The Time Tunnel

The Wild Wild West

Sanford and Son

Mission: Impossible

Anna and the King

Bonanza

The Man from Down Under

The Cobra Strikes

It Takes a Thief

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

Panama Patrol

Have Gun, Will Travel

Kraft Mystery Theatre

Hawaii Five-O

Yesterday's Enemy

The Third Man

The Killer Who Wouldn't Die

Wonder Woman

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

The Streets of San Francisco

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

They Met in Bombay

The Shadow

God Is My Co-Pilot

Shanghai

Shock Corridor

Johnny Midnight

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Desirable

The Keys of the Kingdom

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

The Magician

Ironside

The Great Impostor

The Sickle or the Cross

MAS*H