Victor Sen Yung
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.
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Films (102)
The Man with Bogart's Face
1980 · Mr. Wing
The Killer Elite
1975 · Wei Chi
The Red Pony
1973 · Mr. Sing / Carni man / Mr. Green
Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon
1972 · Chuen
The Hawaiians
1970 · Chun Fat (uncredited)
A Flea in Her Ear
1968 · Oke Saki
The Movie Orgy
1968 · Self (archive footage)
Confessions of an Opium Eater
1962 · Wing Young
Flower Drum Song
1961 · Frankie Wing
Dragon by the Tail
1961 · Dr. Wing Chin-Ni
The Saga of Hemp Brown
1958 · Chang
The Hunters
1958 · Korean farmer
Jet Attack
1958 · Capt. Chon
She Demons
1958 · Sammy Ching
Men in War
1957 · North Korean Sniper Prisoner
Accused of Murder
1956 · Hank - Bayliss' Houseboy (uncredited)
The Family Nobody Wanted
1956
Flight to Hong Kong
1956 · Airline Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
The Rawhide Years
1956 · Chang - Steward (uncredited)
Blood Alley
1955 · Cpl. Wang
The Left Hand of God
1955 · John Wong
Soldier of Fortune
1955 · Goldie - Hotel Waiter (uncredited)
Jump Into Hell
1955 · Lt. Thatch
Port of Hell
1954 · Detonation Ship Radioman
The Shanghai Story
1954 · Sun Lee
Jubilee Trail
1954 · Mickey - Chinese Man (uncredited)
Trader Tom of the China Seas
1954 · Wang
Forbidden
1953 · Allan Chung
The Blue Gardenia
1953 · Blue Gardenia Waiter (uncredited)
Target Hong Kong
1953 · Johnny Wing (uncredited)
Cripple Creek
1952 · Postal Clerk (uncredited)
The Sniper
1952 · Tom
Hong Kong
1952 · Mr. Howe (uncredited)
Valley of Fire
1951 · Ching Moon
Peking Express
1951 · Chinese Captain (uncredited)
The Law and the Lady
1951 · Chinese Manager (uncredited)
Secrets of Monte Carlo
1951 · Chinese Clerk (uncredited)
The Groom Wore Spurs
1951 · Ignacio
Grounds for Marriage
1951 · Oscar, Chris' Valet
Woman on the Run
1950 · Sammy Chung
The Breaking Point
1950 · Mr. Sing
A Ticket to Tomahawk
1950 · Long Time
Key to the City
1950 · MC at the Blue Duck (uncredited)
And Baby Makes Three
1949 · Lem Kee
Chinatown at Midnight
1949 · Hotel Proprietor
Oh, You Beautiful Doll
1949 · Houseboy
Red Light
1949 · Vincent (uncredited)
The Sickle or the Cross
1949 · Major
Tuna Clipper
1949 · Oriental Dock Worker
Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture
1949
State Department: File 649
1949 · Johnny Han
Rogues' Regiment
1948 · Rickshaw Boy (uncredited)
The Feathered Serpent
1948 · Tommy Chan
The Golden Eye
1948 · Tommy Chan (as Victor Sen Young)
The Shanghai Chest
1948 · Tommy Chan
Docks of New Orleans
1948 · Tommy Chan
Half Past Midnight
1948 · Sam
To the Ends of the Earth
1948 · Chinese Pilot (uncredited)
The Chinese Ring
1947 · Tommy Chan
Intrigue
1947 · Western Union Clerk (uncredited)
The Flame
1947 · Chang
The Crimson Key
1947 · Wing - Houseboy
Web of Danger
1947 · Sam
The Trap
1946 · Jimmy Chan
Dangerous Millions
1946 · Lin Chow
Dangerous Money
1946 · Jimmy Chan
G.I. War Brides
1946 · Waiter (uncredited)
Shadows Over Chinatown
1946 · Jimmy Chan
Betrayal from the East
1945 · Omaya
Winged Victory
1944 · Lee (uncredited)
Lost Angel
1943 · Chinese Man (uncredited)
Night Plane from Chungking
1943 · Captain Po
China
1943 · Lin Wei
Manila Calling
1942 · Armando
Across the Pacific
1942 · Joe Totsuiko
Little Tokyo, U.S.A.
1942
Moontide
1942 · Jimmy Takeo
The Mad Martindales
1942 · Jefferson Gow
Secret Agent of Japan
1942 · Fu Yen
Castle in the Desert
1942 · Jimmy Chan
A Yank on the Burma Road
1942 · Wing
Charlie Chan in Rio
1941 · Jimmy Chan
They Met in Bombay
1941 · Gin Ling (uncredited)
Dead Men Tell
1941 · Jimmy Chan
Murder Over New York
1940 · Jimmy Chan
The Letter
1940 · Ong Chi Seng
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum
1940 · Jimmy Chan
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
1940 · Jimmy Chan
Charlie Chan in Panama
1940 · Jimmy Chan
Escape to Paradise
1939
Barricade
1939 · Undetermined Role
20,000 Men a Year
1939 · Harold Chong
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
1939 · Jimmy Chan
Charlie Chan in Reno
1939 · Jimmy Chan
Torchy Blane in Chinatown
1939 · Chinese Entertainer with Sword
Charlie Chan in Honolulu
1938 · James Chan
Shadows Over Shanghai
1938 · Wang
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance
1938 · Soldier
International Settlement
1938 · Bellboy / Onlooker in Street
Thank You, Mr. Moto
1937 · Onlooker with Street Acrobats / Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Double or Nothing
1937 · Minor Role (uncredited)
The Good Earth
1937 · Peasant (uncredited)
Séries (36)
How the West Was Won
1977 · Hospital Attendant
Barbary Coast
1975 · Soong
Isis
1975 · Mr. Chen
Police Woman
1974 · Ah Choy
Kung Fu
1972 · Old Mandarin, Master Ling (uncredited), Chu, Farmer
The Paul Lynde Show
1972
Night Gallery
1970 · Joseph the Butler
Hawaii Five-O
1969 · Dr. Leo Kuh
Here's Lucy
1968 · Headwaiter, Murphy
The F.B.I.
1965 · Mayor Eto, Joseph Sakanishi, Mr. Kwong
Get Smart
1965 · Yamasaki, Abe Fu Yung
The Wild Wild West
1965 · Baron Kyosai
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
1964
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964 · Servant
Mickey
1964
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · Self
87th Precinct
1961 · Charlie, 1st Tattoo Parlor Owner
Mister Ed
1961
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
1960 · Dr. Wing Chin-Ni
Thriller
1960 · Bartender
Hong Kong
1960 · Yang
Hawaiian Eye
1959 · Sam, Al
Bonanza
1959 · Hop Sing
Yancy Derringer
1958 · Hon Lee
The Rifleman
1958
Perry Mason
1957 · Mickey Fong, Sheng
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
1957 · Magan
Broken Arrow
1956 · Ling Tang
Dr. Fu Manchu
1956 · Broadcaster (uncredited)
Navy Log
1955
Captain Midnight
1954
The Lone Wolf
1954 · Jack Wong
Terry and the Pirates
1952
Adventures of Superman
1952 · Harry Wong
China Smith
1952 · George Loo
The Jack Benny Program
1950 · Chinese Cafeteria Employee