Philip Ahn (Korean: 안필립; RR: An Pillip; MR: An P'illip;, March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asian-American character actors of his time. He is widely regarded as the first Korean American film actor in Hollywood.
The son of Korean independence activist Ahn Changho, Philip Ahn was a longtime advocate for his father's legacy and the Korean-American community, helping to establish memorials to his father in his native Seoul and later arranging for his remains to be buried there.
Ahn was born in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on March 29, 1905. His parents, Ahn Changho (도산 안창호) and Yi Hyeryon (이혜련), were both Korean emigrants who had moved to the United States in 1902,[1] making him the first American citizen born to two Korean parents in the United States.[2] His father Dosan was a well-known educator and an activist for Korean independence while Korea was under Japanese rule; he moved to the U.S. to seek better educational opportunities.[3] He became an informal ambassador to the Korean-American immigrant community in California and became one of its first leaders, founding the Mutual Assistance Society (Kongrip Hyophoe/공립협회), the first Korean political organization in America.
When he was in high school, Ahn visited the set of the film The Thief of Bagdad where he met Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks offered him a screen test, followed by a part in the movie. However, his mother told him, "No son of mine is going to get mixed up with those awful people."
Ahn graduated from high school in 1923 and went to work in the rice fields around Colusa, California. The land was owned by the Hung Sa Dan, or Young Korean Academy, a Korean independence movement that trained Koreans to become leaders of their country once it was free from Japanese rule. Since Koreans could not own land in California, the Academy put the property in Ahn's name. Unfortunately, the rice crops failed because of heavy rains, and Ahn found himself deeply in debt. He went to work as an elevator operator in Los Angeles to pay back the debt and help support his family.
It was not until 1934 that he could afford to attend the University of Southern California. His father told him if he really wanted to be an actor, he had to be the best actor he could and convinced him to take acting and cinematography courses. While still a student, he appeared in a stage production of Merrily We Roll Along, which toured the western United States.
Ahn served as president of the USC Cosmopolitan Club, was chairman of the All University Committee on International Relations and was assistant to the dean of male students as advisor for foreign student affairs. He organized visits by foreign dignitaries, including Princess Der Ling of China, Indian journalist Chaman Lal and archeologist-explorer Robert B. Stacey-Judd. After completing his second year, however, Ahn dropped out to act full-time.
During World War II, Ahn often played Japanese villains in war films. Mistakenly thought to be Japanese, he received several death threats. He was frequently cast in these roles opposite Chinese-American actor Richard Loo. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Special Services division as an entertainer. He was discharged early because of an injured ankle and returned to making films.
Ahn's role as a conflicted Ilbongye Hangugin (Korean of Japanese descent) doctor in the 1945 Pearl Buck adaptation China Sky is notable as one of the first depictions of a Korean character in a major Hollywood film.
After traveling to South Korea in the 1950s, Ahn considered emigrating there and acting in Korean films, but decided against it due to his unusual idiolect. Having learned Korean mostly from his mother, who was from the Northern part of the peninsula and had left Korea in the early 1900s, Ahn and his siblings spoke with a prominent North Korean accent and antiquated diction and grammar.
Ahn's most notable television role was as "Master Kan" on the television series Kung Fu (1972). A Presbyterian, Ahn felt that the Taoist homilies his character quoted did not contradict his own religious faith.[citation needed]
Restaurant business
In 1954, Ahn opened a Chinese restaurant with his sister Soorah. Phil Ahn's Moongate Restaurant was one of the first Chinese restaurants in Panorama City, in the San Fernando Valley, and lasted for more than thirty years, before closing in 1990.[4][5]
He worked to have his father and mother buried together in Seoul. His father had been buried far from the city because the Japanese hoped to downplay his independence work. His mother had died in California. They had not seen each other from the time Dosan returned to Korea in 1926, before the birth of his youngest son. Ahn worked with the South Korean government to establish a park to honor his father and was able to have his parents buried there.[citation needed]
Ahn's younger brother Philson had a minor acting career, and was best known as "Prince Tallen" in the twelve-episode serialBuck Rogers. Because of their similar first names, the two are sometimes conflated. His sister Susan was the first female gunnery officer in the United States Navy, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant and working for both Naval Intelligence and the fledgling National Security Agency.
In 1968, Ahn made a USO tour of South Vietnam, visiting both American and South Korean troops in the Vietnam War.
Death
Ahn died on February 28, 1978, due to complications from surgery. He is buried in the Courts of Remembrance, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.[7]
Legacy
Ahn remains a seminal figure in Asian-American and Korean-American representation in Hollywood. In the 1940s and 1950s, Korea was a relatively obscure region to most Americans, recognized politically as a colony of Japan and little else. Not only was Ahn one of the first Korean-American actors to work in the American film industry, but he was also one of the first actors to portray Korean characters in American films.
Hye Seung Chung, an associate professor of film and media studies at Colorado State University, writes of Ahn that he “remains a true pioneer, one of the few performers of Asian descent to survive the racist casting politics of studio-era filmmaking and make a transition to the Television Age. Although Ahn played Korean characters in only a handful of Korean War films and television episodes, he was an important figure in Korean American history.”
Tributes
In 1984, Ahn was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star for his contributions to the film industry. His star is located at 6211 Hollywood Boulevard.[8] He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Adventures in Paradise 4 episodes (Ling in The Bamboo Curtain) (1959) (Ling Wan in One Little Pearl) (1960) (Reverend Yen in Command at Sea) (1961) (Mr. Chee in Build My Gallows Low) (1962)
The Islanders 1 episode (Governor Galli in The Generous Politician) (1960)
Pete and Gladys 1 episode (Mr. Suki in No Man is Japan) (1960)
Mr. Garlund 2 episodes (Po Chang in The X-27 and To Double, Double Vamp) (1960)
Hawaiian Eye 4 episodes (Mr. Kwong in The Lady's Not for Traveling) (1960) (Mr. Sun in The Blue Goddess) (1960) (Li in The Manchu Formula) (1961) (Florist in The Broken Thread) (1962)
Bonanza 3 episodes (Mr. Lee Chang in The Fear Merchants) (1960) (Dr. Kam Lee in Day of the Dragon) (1961) (Wang Sai in A Pink Cloud Comes From Old Cathay) (1964)
Hong Kong 2 episodes (Feng in The Dragon Cup) (1960) (Hyung in Lady Godiva) (1961)
Alcoa Premiere 1 episode (Chinese major in The Fortress) (1961)
Follow the Sun 2 episodes (Dr. Kwai in Cry Fraud) (1961) (Han Lee in Ghost Story) (as Phillip Ahn) (1962)
The New Breed 1 episode (Joe Ohoshi in Echoes of Hate) (1962)
Perry Mason 1 episode (James Wong in The Case of the Weary Watchdog) (1962)
Ensign O'Toole 1 episode (Low Kong in Operation Intrigue) (1963)
The Third Man 1 episode (Easy One Seng in A Calculated Risk) (1963)
Stoney Burke 1 episode (Zen Master in The Weapons Man) (as Phillip Ahn) (1963)
Make Room for Daddy 1 episode (Wong Chow, the launderer in Sense of Humor) (1964)
The Rogues 1 episode (Magician in Our Men in Marawat) (1965)
I Spy 2 episodes (Charlie Huan in Carry Me Back to Old Tsing-Tao) (1965) (Tu Po in An American Empress) (1967)
The Wild Wild West 1 episode (Quong Chu in The Night the Dragon Screamed) (1966)
The F.B.I. 2 episodes (Police Chief Henry Nakamura in The Hiding Place) (1966) (Mr. Kwong in Dark Journey) (1972)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E 2 episodes (High Lama of Ghupat in The Abominable Snowman Affair) (1966) (Dr. Sazami Kyushu in The Five Daughters Affair: Part II) (1967)
The Time Tunnel 1 episode (Dr. Nakamura in Kill Two By Two) (1967)
Laredo 1 episode (Capt. Wong Lee in The Bitter Yen of General Ti) (1967)
Hawaii Five-O 4 episodes (Attorney General in Pilot) (1968) (Attorney General in Cocoon: Part I) (1969) (Quon Li in Sweet Terror) (1969) (Lin Mai-Lu in Journey Out of Limbo) (1972)
The Big Valley 1 episode (Chen Yu in The Emperor of Rice) (1968)
My Three Sons 1 episode (Uncle George Wong in Honorable Guest) (1968)
Mannix 1 episode (Mr. Rhee in Shadow of a Man) (1969)
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