Philip Ahn
Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), 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, 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. Early life and education. Ahn was born in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California on March 29, 1905. His given name Philip was an Anglicized version of the Korean name Pil Lip (). His parents, Ahn Changho (도산 안창호) and Yi Hyeryon (이혜련), were both Korean emigrants who had moved to the United States in 1902, making him the first American citizen born to two Korean parents in the United States. 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. 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. Career. Ahn's first film was "A Scream in the Night" in 1935. He appeared in the Bing Crosby film "Anything Goes", though the director Lewis Milestone had initially rejected him because his English was too good for the part. His first credited roles came in 1936 in "The General Died at Dawn" and "Stowaway", opposite Shirley Temple. He starred opposite Anna  May Wong in "Daughter of Shanghai" (1937) and "King of Chinatown" (1939), becoming the first self-represented on-screen Asian American romantic couple of sound-era Hollywood cinema. 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 United States Army and served in the Special Services 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. Ahn appeared in "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing", "Around the World in Eighty Days", "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Paradise, Hawaiian Style", with Elvis Presley. He played Korean characters in Korean War movies such as "Battle Circus" (1953) and "Battle Hymn" (1956). 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. Television roles. In 1952, Ahn made his television debut on the Schlitz Playhouse, a series he would make three additional appearances on. Ahn would also be cast in four episodes of ABC's "Adventures in Paradise", four episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers crime drama "Hawaiian Eye", and the CBS crime drama "Hawaii Five-O". He made three appearances each on  Crossroads, "Bonanza", and "M*A*S*H". He would also appear in two television movies. Ahn's most notable television role was as "Master Kan" on the television series "Kung Fu". A Presbyterian, Ahn felt that the Taoist homilies his character quoted did not contradict his own religious faith. Personal life. Ahn was actively involved in the Korean community of Los Angeles. He worked to make Los Angeles a sister city of Busan, Korea. He also helped to bring the Korean Bell of Friendship to San Pedro, California. The Bell of Friendship has been seen in many subsequent movies. He served for twenty  years as honorary mayor of Panorama City, California. 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 play down 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. Working with the Korean government, Ahn helped to establish a park to honor his father and was able to have his parents buried there. Ahn's younger brother, Philson, had a minor acting  career. He was best known as "Prince Tallen" in the twelve-episode serial "Buck Rogers", featuring Buster Crabbe. Ahn's 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 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. In 1968, Ahn made a USO  tour of Vietnam, visiting both American and Korean troops in South Vietnam. 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. 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. He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.