World War II produced an influx of Hollywood espionage tales and
battleground dramas during the 1940s and, as there were only a small
supply of Japanese actors working in Hollywood at the time, a number of
Asian character actors found steady employment, albeit undistinguished,
as various Chinese allies and Japanese enemies. Benevolent-looking
Chinese-American Peter Chong from the Broadway stage and radio was one
of those fortunate actors. Placed in the secondary ranks along with
Victor Wong,
Harold Fong and
Luke Chan, etc., the top-ranked Asian talent
at the time included Keye Luke,
Philip Ahn
Victor Sen Yung,
Richard Loo and
Benson Fong. While most of Peter's parts
were quite undernourished, a couple of film roles did allow the actor a
brief spot of attention before his final fadeout in the mid-1960s.
Born John Kohnie Kuh on December 2, 1898, in Jersey City, New Jersey
(various birth years (1994 and 1895) and birth places (China, Honolulu)
are still floating about), he was the son of Chinese immigrants Fong
Long Kuh and Det Ann Lye. In New York he made an obscure Broadway debut
with "Bridge of Distances" (1925), but then managed to continue for the
next decade or so with a stream of theatre roles. Billed as Peter Goo
Chong (aka Goo Chong), his theatre credits include "Twelve Miles Out"
(1925), "Fast Life" (1928), "These Few Ashes" (1928), "House Unguarded"
(1929), "Inspector Kennedy" (1929), "Luana" (1930), "As You Desire Me"
(1931), "The Social Register" (1931), "Border-Land" (1932), "Jamboree"
(1932), "Hotel Alimony" (1934), "Petticoat Fever" (1935), in which he
had on of his best stage roles, "Run Sheep Run" (1938), "They Knew What
They Wanted," "Beverly Hills" (1940), "The Admiral Had a Wife" (which
actually closed before it opened in December 1941 due to the bombing of
Pearl Harbor) and "Little Darling" (1942).
Eventually Peter moved into radio and film. In the former medium he
was, among many others, the voice of Charlie Chan. As for the latter,
he started things off with an unbilled part in the
Jeanne Eagels starrer
The Letter (1929), which presented a
Singapore setting. He wasn't able to focus strongly on the large
screen, however, until the U.S. involvement in World War II. Chong then
went on to play a number of benevolent Asian types, both Chinese and
Japanese, primarily cheerful or dignified in nature but occasionally
villainous. The parts themselves were small in size for the most part
but throughout the WWII years, he added, if nothing else, an element of
authenticity to such dramatic efforts as
Botschafter in Moskau (1943),
The Purple Heart (1944),
Betrayal from the East (1945)_, and _First Yank in Tokyo (1945), as
well as the Danny Kaye vehicle
Up in Arms (1944).
War films continued to be in demand in the aftermath of WWII and Peter
kept busy, less in uniform than before, and in roles that usually
generated kindness and wisdom. Barely seen as a Japanese officer
The Beginning or the End (1947)
and an editor in Die Bestie von Schanghai (1947), MGM
employed him for a few of their films -- he played a valet in
Osterspaziergang (1948), a bartender
in Das ist New York (1949), and another
bit part in
Das Raubtier ist los (1950).
While a number of his roles were servile in nature such as his
manservant Wong in
Francis Goes to the Races (1951)
and a dining car steward on
Peking-Express (1951), he did
manage a couple of significant parts before he left films -- in
James Cagney's
Jeremy Rodack - Mein Wille ist Gesetz (1956)
and alongside Ingrid Bergman in
Die Herberge zur sechsten Glückseligkeit (1958)
in which he played Wang, the bilingual Chinese cook.
Peter's last movie roles were in
Diese Erde ist mein (1959) and
Der Kommandant (1960),
playing a Chinese colonel in the latter. By this period he had started
focusing on TV and appeared primarily in crime dramas ("The Thin Man"
and "Richard Diamond") and westerns ("Johnny Ringo" and "Bonanza"). He
retired from acting in the mid-1960s.
Music and composing became a large part of his life in later years. He
died at age 86 in Los Angeles, on January 15, 1985, of a heart attack.
