Burt kwouk

Those who saw the hilarious installments of the Pink Panther saga will remember that Inspector Clouseau (unforgettable Peter Sellers) had a peculiar oriental servant, Cato, so helpful that to keep him always alert and trained in martial arts, he had the ‘healthy’ habit of attacking him… every time he came home! The actor who embodied the character, Burt Kwouk, has died at the age of 85, although more details are unknown.

Coming from a family of Chinese emigrants from Great Britain, he was born on July 18, 1930, in Warrington (Lancashire), although his parents soon returned to Shanghai, where he stayed until he was 17 years old. At that age the clan moved again to the United Kingdom, where he established a relationship with a young woman who suggested that he pursue acting.

He made his uncredited big screen debut in 1956 in  Alarm in the Far East , where he was a priest’s aide. Since then he has lavished himself on titles such as  The Inn of the Sixth Happiness , with  Ingrid Bergman  as an intrepid missionary, while in  55 days in Beijing  he was recruited to briefly double an old man character. He also lavished himself on British series, for example, he had recurring roles in  The Avengers ,  Dr. Who  and  El Santo , the most famous of the time.

He played Cato for the first time in  The New Case of Inspector Clouseau , where he already became essential in the saga, for which he reappeared in  The Return of the Pink Panther ,  The Pink Panther Strikes Again ,  Revenge of the Pink Panther ,  The Curse of the Pink Panther  and even in  The Son of the Pink Panther , that installment starring Roberto Benigni.

It was not the only illustrious saga in which he appeared, as he also accompanied 007 himself in  James Bond vs. Goldfinger , where he was Mr. Ling, supervisor of the operation of an industrial laser. He would accompany   Peter Sellers again  in  The Diabolical Plan of Dr. Fu Manchu ,  where the British comedian, playing the evil protagonist, wondered when he saw his character why his face sounded familiar to him.

Active to a late age, he had a prominent role as  Jet Li ‘s uncle  in  Kiss of the Dragon , while in  Loving Dangerously , with  Angelina Jolie , he played a military man. Married to Caroline Tebbs, during the summer of 1961, the couple had an only child. In 2011 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire.