Willie Fung

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Willie Fung (born March 3, 1896 in Guangzhou , Chinese Empire , † April 16, 1945 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor of Chinese origin.

life and career

Born in China, he immigrated to the United States as a young man. At first he worked as a peanut seller until he was surprisingly given a role in the movie Hurricane's Gal . It was the start of a long film career, over the next two decades Fung starred in around 135 Hollywood films. Often his roles were small and uncredited , but occasionally he took on larger assignments. In the racist America of the 1930s , he mostly had to embody Asian stereotypes such as the simple-minded servant, cook or launderer. Occasionally Fung also played threatening characters, for example as the pursuer of Dolores Costello in the silent film Old San Francisco. The small, corpulent character actor had a good reputation as a scene stealer and received praise from the press for some appearances. His better-known roles include his appearance as a racist comic relief in the romantic drama Jungle in the Storm and as a devious spy in Recruit Willie Winkie alongside Shirley Temple .

In the 1930s he opened the Lotus Land Chinese restaurant in Hollywood, where guests included Henry Miller and Paul Muni . Miller wrote of Fung, “When he laughed, it was like the sun setting over Waikīkī .” He died of a heart attack just a month after his 49th birthday.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Willie Fung  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b There’s Something About Willie Fung ( Memento from March 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Willie Fung | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Retrieved September 13, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Fung, Willie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor of Chinese origin
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Guangzhou , China
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1945
Place of death Los Angeles , California