Victor Sen Yung
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Victor Sen Young (born Victor Cheung Young or Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1915 – body discovered November 9, 1980) was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the Western series Bonanza. He was born in San Francisco, California to Gum Yung Sen and his first wife, both immigrants from China. His mother died during the flu epidemic of 1919. His father placed Victor and his younger sister, Rosemary, in a children's shelter, and returned to his homeland to seek another wife. He returned in 1922 with his new wife, Lovi Shee, forming a household with his two children. Sen Yung made his first significant acting debut in the 1938 film Charlie Chan in Honolulu, as the Chinese detective's "number two son", Jimmy Chan. Sen Yung played Jimmy Chan in 11 Charlie Chan films between 1938 and 1942. Moonlighting from the popular Chan series, Sen Yung won critical acclaim playing the nuanced role of Ong Chi Seng, a young attorney assisting Howard Joyce, in defending Leslie Crosbie, in The Letter. Like other Chinese-American actors, he was cast in Japanese parts during World War II, like his role as the treacherous Japanese-American Joe Totsuiko in the 1942 Humphrey Bogart film Across the Pacific. During World War II he joined the U.S. Army Air Forces just as his erstwhile co-star Sidney Toler was set to revive the dormant Charlie Chan series at Monogram Pictures. Sen Yung's military obligations forced him to decline rejoining the series immediately, but Monogram gave him a standing invitation to work there after his tour of duty. Sen Yung's military service included work in training films at the First Motion Picture Unit and a role in the Army Air Forces' play and film Winged Victory. In 1946 Sen Yung resumed his Hollywood career at Monogram, now billed as Victor Sen Young, and reunited with Sidney Toler. Toler's health was failing; Monogram was conserving Toler's waning energy, limiting his scenes and giving him long rest periods during filming. To relieve the burden on Toler, Monogram entrusted much of the action to Victor Sen Young; he and either Mantan Moreland or Willie Best shared much of the footage in Toler's final three films, Dangerous Money, Shadows Over Chinatown, and The Trap. The addition of Moreland as Chan's black chauffeur, Birmingham Brown, reflected the fact that by this time the Chan pictures had a significant following among black Americans, who liked a film series that for once did not feature a white hero. Moreland's popularity in the Chan pictures was so great that he was booked for a nationwide vaudeville tour. Following Toler's death in 1947, Victor Sen Young appeared in five of the remaining six Charlie Chan features. His character "Jimmy" was renamed "Tommy". Victor Sen Young continued to work in motion pictures and television in roles ranging from featured players (affable or earnest Asian characters) to bit roles (clerks, houseboys, waiters, etc.). Arguably even more than for his work in the Charlie Chan films, Victor Sen Yung is remembered as "Hop Sing," the irascible cook and general factotum on the iconic television series Bonanza, appearing in 107 episodes between 1959 and 1973. Sen Yung was also an accomplished and talented chef. He frequently appeared on cooking programs and authored The Great Wok Cookbook in 1974.
Known for
Credits
Blood Alley (1955)
as Cpl. Wang
The Left Hand of God (1955)
as John Wong
The Movie Orgy (1968)
as Self (archive footage)
The Killer Elite (1975)
as Wei Chi
Woman on the Run (1950)
as Sammy Chung
Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949)
as Houseboy
Key to the City (1950)
as MC at the Blue Duck (uncredited)
The Sniper (1952)
as Tom
The Blue Gardenia (1953)
as Blue Gardenia Waiter (uncredited)
Across the Pacific (1942)
as Joe Totsuiko
The Hawaiians (1970)
as Chun Fat (uncredited)
A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
as Long Time
Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)
as Wing Young
Flight to Hong Kong (1956)
as Airline Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
The Saga of Hemp Brown (1958)
as Chang
The Hunters (1958)
as Korean farmer
The Flame (1947)
as Chang
Soldier of Fortune (1955)
as Goldie - Hotel Waiter (uncredited)
They Met in Bombay (1941)
as Gin Ling (uncredited)
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon (1972)
as Chuen
Men in War (1957)
as North Korean Sniper Prisoner
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)
as Jimmy Chan
Moontide (1942)
as Jimmy Takeo
The Letter (1940)
as Ong Chi Seng
The Breaking Point (1950)
as Mr. Sing
A Flea in Her Ear (1968)
as Oke Saki
G.I. War Brides (1946)
as Waiter (uncredited)
Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)
as Onlooker with Street Acrobats / Elevator Operator (uncredited)
The Rawhide Years (1956)
as Chang - Steward (uncredited)
Docks of New Orleans (1948)
as Tommy Chan
The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)
as Mr. Wing
Double or Nothing (1937)
as Minor Role (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)
as James Chan
Murder Over New York (1940)
as Jimmy Chan
Forbidden (1953)
as Allan Chung
The Law and the Lady (1951)
as Chinese Manager (uncredited)
Flower Drum Song (1961)
as Frankie Wing
Secrets of Monte Carlo (1951)
as Chinese Clerk (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)
as Jimmy Chan
Betrayal from the East (1945)
as Omaya
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
as Jimmy Chan
A Yank on the Burma Road (1942)
as Wing
Cripple Creek (1952)
as Postal Clerk (uncredited)
Torchy Blane in Chinatown (1939)
as Chinese Entertainer with Sword
To the Ends of the Earth (1948)
as Chinese Pilot (uncredited)
20,000 Men a Year (1939)
as Harold Chong
The Sickle or the Cross (1949)
as Major
Peking Express (1951)
as Chinese Captain (uncredited)
The Groom Wore Spurs (1951)
as Ignacio
The Good Earth (1937)
as Peasant (uncredited)
The Shanghai Story (1954)
as Sun Lee
China (1943)
as Lin Wei
Little Tokyo, U.S.A. (1942)
Actor
Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
as Jimmy Chan
State Department: File 649 (1949)
as Johnny Han
The Trap (1946)
as Jimmy Chan
Dragon by the Tail (1961)
as Dr. Wing Chin-Ni
The Shanghai Chest (1948)
as Tommy Chan
Castle in the Desert (1942)
as Jimmy Chan
Winged Victory (1944)
as Lee (uncredited)
Secret Agent of Japan (1942)
as Fu Yen
The Red Pony (1973)
as Mr. Sing / Carni man / Mr. Green
Trader Tom of the China Seas (1954)
as Wang
Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949)
Actor
Hong Kong (1952)
as Mr. Howe (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in Rio (1941)
as Jimmy Chan
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938)
as Soldier
Dangerous Money (1946)
as Jimmy Chan
Rogues' Regiment (1948)
as Rickshaw Boy (uncredited)
Accused of Murder (1956)
as Hank - Bayliss' Houseboy (uncredited)
And Baby Makes Three (1949)
as Lem Kee
The Golden Eye (1948)
as Tommy Chan (as Victor Sen Young)
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
as Jimmy Chan
The Chinese Ring (1947)
as Tommy Chan
International Settlement (1938)
as Bellboy / Onlooker in Street
Jubilee Trail (1954)
as Mickey - Chinese Man (uncredited)
The Family Nobody Wanted (1956)
Actor
Night Plane from Chungking (1943)
as Captain Po
Red Light (1949)
as Vincent (uncredited)
Chinatown at Midnight (1949)
as Hotel Proprietor
The Crimson Key (1947)
as Wing - Houseboy
Half Past Midnight (1948)
as Sam
She Demons (1958)
as Sammy Ching
Shadows Over Chinatown (1946)
as Jimmy Chan
Lost Angel (1943)
as Chinese Man (uncredited)
Jet Attack (1958)
as Capt. Chon
The Feathered Serpent (1948)
as Tommy Chan
Intrigue (1947)
as Western Union Clerk (uncredited)
Dead Men Tell (1941)
as Jimmy Chan
Port of Hell (1954)
as Detonation Ship Radioman
Barricade (1939)
as Undetermined Role
Jump Into Hell (1955)
as Lt. Thatch
Grounds for Marriage (1951)
as Oscar, Chris' Valet
Valley of Fire (1951)
as Ching Moon
Manila Calling (1942)
as Armando
Dangerous Millions (1946)
as Lin Chow
Target Hong Kong (1953)
as Johnny Wing (uncredited)
Tuna Clipper (1949)
as Oriental Dock Worker
Web of Danger (1947)
as Sam
Shadows Over Shanghai (1938)
as Wang
Escape to Paradise (1939)
Actor
The Mad Martindales (1942)
as Jefferson Gow