Nocturnal Forum

As many of us know, a lot of black actors appeared regularly in Italian films, and this has also been discussed here earlier. However, little has been said about the many Oriental actors that pop up in these films. Perhaps it is because many of them often played uncredited supporting roles or because Asians were sometimes played by caucasian actors with unconvincing "special Asian make-up" à la Claude Dantes in BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964). But there certainly are a few that had more substansial careers.

The first name that pops into my mind is George Wang, who is remembered for a host of Eurospy films like OPERATION GOLDSLINGER (1965), SPY IN YOUR EYE (1965) and BLACK BOX AFFAIR (1966), as well as Spaghetti westerns like EL CISCO (1966), TEPEPA (1968) and KILL DJANGO... KILL FIRST (1971). Wang also appeared in the kung fu/spaghetti western hybrids THE FIGHTING FISTS OF SHANGHAI JOE (1972), as well as stuff like Antonio Margheriti's MR. HERCULES AGAINST KARATE (1973), 7 HOURS OF VIOLENCE (1973) and others. Definitely one of the most important Eurasian actors of the 60s and 70s.

Another name that springs to mind is Mitsouko, a beautiful actress who was a regular face in Eurospy films like MISSION BLOODY MARY (1965), KILLERS ARE CHALLENGED (1966), ZZ OPERATION REMBRANDT (1966), and FURY IN MARRAKECH (1966). She is probably best known, though, for her small uncredited appearance alongside Sean Connery in the pre-titles sequence in THUNDERBALL (1965). A very sexy, captivating screen presence whose career should have been longer. If the IMDb is to be trusted, she committed suicide in 1995.

There are also many Asian actors who made brief appearances in Italian films to be in some of those kung fu/western hybrids, such as Lo Lieh who was in both Margheriti's THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER (1974) and Bitto Albertini's THREE FANTASTIC SUPERMEN IN THE ORIENT (1975).

Then there's Mei Chen, who played the leading role in LUANA, THE GIRL TARZAN (1968), one of the numerous female Tarzan adventures of the late 60s. Unfortunately, Mei Chen didn't seem to have to much of a career outside of this film. Prior to her role in LUANA she did a few films in France such as Jean Rollin's THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE (1967), and she later played an uncredited role in THE GREAT CHASE (1968) with Eddie Constantine and Johnny Halliday. After that she seems to have disappeared, though.

I'm sure there are lots of other Eurasian actors but I can't think of any specific examples right now. Can you guys think of some others?

Of course we can't forget one of the all-time greats, Hal Yamanouchi! Oriental or otherwise, Yamanouchi (also known as Al and Haruhiko - his real name) has been tops with me since I first saw him in action in D'Amato's fantastic Al Cliver vehicle, ENDGAME - BRONX LOTTA FINALE (1983). Following that, I've enjoyed him in absolutely everything since. From his more memorable roles such as the Rat Eater King in Martino's 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983) (2019 - DOPO LA CADUTA DI NEW YORK) and his delivery as a maniacal Samurai in Giacomo Battiato's amazing, PALADINI - HEARTS AND ARMOUR (1983) (PALADINI - I STORIA D'ARMI E D'AMORI) (quite possibly my favorite Yamanouchi performance), to smaller cameos in films like Deodato's PHANTOM OF DEATH (1987) (UN DELITTO POCO COMUNE), Yamanouchi is always a treat. The man is still very much at it too! Go Yamanouchi-san!

Ah, OF COURSE! How on earth could I forget Al Yamanouchi!? He is indeed a very cool guy and has been in tons of great Italian films. I loved him as the disgusting rat eater king in AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK and he was quite amusing as Pietro Torrisi's wise-cracking sidekick in SWORD OF THE BARABRIANS (1982). Not to mention his turn as the sinister Buddhist monk ghost in Umberto Lenzi's underrated THE HOUSE OF LOST SOULS (1989). Definitely a memorable actor, and I'm happy to see he's still acting. Good pick, Devin!

Interesting, I wrote about this in my blog last year, but mainly focused on asian actors in italian westerns. And also a little bit about asian westerns (but that's another story).

My main favorite and a genius of casting is brilliant Tatsuya Nakadai as the bad guy in TODAY WE KILL TOMORROW WE DIE from 1968. A good lowbudget western where Tatsuya plays a halfbreed of some kind, his character-name is "James Elfego".

In Steno's excellent FLATFOOT GOES EAST there's a whole bunch of thai, chinese and japanese actors. But except the little japanese boy, no one seem to be credited. The boy's name is only "Daygolo", which dosen't say much at all.

edit: actually, IMDB credits one "Chaplin Chang" to be in the flatfoot-movie. He also turns up in TRINITY GOES EAST in 1998 - which sounds very italian, but seems to maybe be some loose co-production.

Not sure if we're counting Filipino actors here, but I've always dug Rene Abadeza - the little guy from the Philippines who was also a stunt man or master of arms (something like that) as well on films by Margheriti and Mattei. Really enjoyed him in Margheriti's CODENAME: WILDGEESE (1984) (GEHEIMCODE: WILDGANSE) as the guide who takes one too many steps trying to help Lee Van Cleef, Mimsy Farmer and company avoid a series of mines.

He even most recently worked behind the scenes on Bruno Mattei's final cannibal outings. Abadeza is always fun to spot.

Another highly entertaining oriental actor from the wonderful world of Euro-fringe that comes to mind is Kiro Wehara - likely more known by his pseudonyms, Huera Kiro and Chen Wong. He popped up as a wise-cracking, ever praising henchman in Mino Guerrini's THE MINES OF KILIMANJARO (1986) (LE MINIERE DEL KILIMANGIARO) and featured in an equally entertaining role in Aristide Massaccesi's ATOR L'INVINCIBILE 2 (1984) (THE BLADE MASTER) as Miles O'Keefe's mute sidekick, Thong. Although I've yet to see it but plan to very soon (really itching to!), the only other credit I can locate for him is the role of Panasonic in Deran Sarafian's Italian post-nuker, INTERZONE (1987). Perhaps our friend Paul Cooke can shed some more light on his character there.

On a related sidenote, as the new Indian Jones movie hits theaters, I'll be covering one of the already mentioned Italian takes on that series - THE MINES OF KILIMANJARO - for CN as my next review, which as I mentioned features Kiro Wehara (as Huera Kiro). Screw Spielberg, Guerrini's film is far more interesting to me!

Hehe! I love Kiro Wehara in THE MINES OF KILIMANJARO. His ass-kissing praise to his fat boss (the one and only Franco Diogene) is just hilarious. He actually calls him "lotus flower of the piercing intellect" at one point! Very silly film but I like it. Btw, this reminds me that Diogene's character is actually supposed to be Asian too. Another case of an Italian actor donning some laughably unconving Asian make-up!

Anyway, I think it's interesting to see that several Asian actors did pop up in spaghetti westerns. There were also a couple of WW2 movies that dealt with Japanese involvement in the war, so both 36 HOURS OF HELL (1969) and A PLACE IN HELL (1969) feature some Asian actors. The latter features the attractive Lilia Neyung in a prominent role and she does a very good job. Lilia was also THE BECKET AFFAIR (1966) and DEATH ON A RAINY DAY (1967) and a couple of other films. I also have an issue of "Le avventure di Don Archer" (one of those photo novels for adults in the same vein as "Killing" and "Genius") that has a small pictorial on her. Apparently, she's from Thailand.

Lilia Neyung: