James B. Leong
Leong (born Leong But-jung and sometimes credited as Jimmy Leong; November 2, 1889 — December 16, 1967) was a Chinese-American character actor and filmmaker who had a long career in Hollywood beginning during the silent era. He graduated from Marion Normal College in Muncie, Indiana, in 1915 and briefly worked at a newspaper before moving to Hollywood, where he worked at first as a technical director for filmmakers like D. Griffith and Wesley Ruggles. He had grown tired of seeing Chinese people portrayed as kidnappers and assassins on the screen.
Also recorded as Leong But-jung · Leong But Jung
James B. Leong

Picture-Play Magazine (Jan. 1922) · Public domain
- Name
- James B.
- Birth Name
- Leong But-jung
- Born
- 2 November 1889
- Birthplace
- Shanghai, Qing Empire
- Died
- 16 December 1967
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Education
- Marion Normal College
- Occupation
- Actor, director
- Spouse
- Agatha Tarwater (m. 1934)
- Full name
- Leong But-jung.
- Nationality
- China and United States.
- Fields
- acting, film screenwriting and film production.
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q74246804 · wikipedia · James B. Leong
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The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France
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Biography
Biography
Under this banner, he wrote and directed the 1921 film Lotus Blossom. During that time, he had said he planned to write and direct four films a year, though it never came to fruition, with a planned follow-up, The Unbroken Promise, never filmed. He took work as an actor, playing smaller roles in Hollywood films, as well as continuing to work as a technical director and dialect coach. He made money by growing silk crops in the 1940s. He married Agatha Tarwater in 1934; the pair had a son together. Leong became a U.S. citizen in 1958.

Actor and filmmaker James B. Leong
Camera! vol. IV, no. 33, Nov. 26, 1921
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — James B. Leong • Birth Name — Leong But-jung • Born — 2 November 1889 • Birthplace — Shanghai, Qing Empire • Died — 16 December 1967 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Education — Marion Normal College • Occupation — Actor, director • Spouse — Agatha Tarwater (m. 1934)
Documentary record
James B. Leong lived from 2 November 1889 to 16 December 1967 and is documented in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The birth of James B. Leong is recorded on 2 November 1889, and the death on 16 December 1967.
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
As writer-director • Lotus Blossom (1921) As producer • China Speaks (1937) As actor • The Purple Dawn (1923) as Quan Foo • The Remittance Woman (1923) as Chuen To Yan • Defying the Law (1924) as Dr. Chong Foo • The Devil Dancer (1927) as The Grand Lama • China Slaver (1929) as Lee Mandarin • Come and Get It! (1929) as Singapore Joe • Welcome Danger (1929) as Florist Henchman / High Priest (uncredited) • Shanghai Lady (1929) as Counselor • Uppercut O'Brien (Short) (1929) as Chinese Doctor (uncredited) • Lotus Lady (1930) as Li • Chinatown After Dark (1931) as Servant (uncredited) • The Hatchet Man (1932) as Tong Member (uncredited) • Shanghai Express (1932) as Rebel (uncredited) • The Heart Punch (1932) as Wong • Tangled Destinies (1932) as Ling • The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) as Guest (uncredited) • Trick for Trick (1933) as Chinese Henchman (uncredited) • Son of Kong (1933) as Chinese Trader (uncredited) • The Hell Cat (1934) as Chinese Man (uncredited) • Mandalay (1934) as Leong the Waiter (uncredited) • The Cat's-Paw (1934) as Lee Chang / Chinese Villager (uncredited) • The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934) as Wong Henchman (uncredited) • Chinatown Squad (1935) as Chinese Man (uncredited) • Shadows of the Orient (1935) as Ching Chu • Captured in Chinatown (1935) as Wong • East of Java (1935) as Crewman (uncredited) • Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935) Shanghai Police Operator (uncredited) • Shadow of Chinatown (1936) as Wong • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) as Chinese Chauffeur (uncredited) • Midnight Blunders (1936) as Chinese Man (uncredited) • Ace Drummond (1936) as Henry Kee • The Good Earth (1937) as Chinese Peasant (uncredited) • West of Shanghai (1937) as Pao (uncredited) • Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937) as Peiping Cop (uncredited) • The Singing Marine (1937) as Shanghai Radio Announcer (uncredited) • Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938) as Native (uncredited) • International Settlement (1938) as Officer (uncredited) • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) as Tartar Warrior (uncredited) • Red Barry (1938) as Chinese Waiter (uncredited) • North of Shanghai (1939) as Police Sergeant • Daughter of the Tong (1939) as Importer (uncredited) • Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) as Chinese Si Fan Member (uncredited) • South of Pago Pago (1940) as Waiter • They Met in Bombay (1941) as Third Mate (uncredited) • Lady from Chungking (1942) as Chen • A Yank on the Burma Road (1942) as Guerilla Leader • The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942) as Candy Salesman (uncredited) • Remember Pearl Harbor (1942) as Japanese Major • Submarine Raider (1942) as Toramatsu (uncredited) • Wake Island (1942) as Secretary to Japanese Envoy (uncredited) • Across the Pacific (1942) as Nura (uncredited) • Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) as Sun Lee's Measuring Assistant (uncredited) • Behind the Rising Sun (1943) as Japanese Swordsman (uncredited) • Headin' for God's Country (1943) as Japanese Officer • Destination Tokyo (1943) as Japanese (uncredited) • Rookies in Burma (1943) as Japanese Soldier in Tank (uncredited) • Dragon Seed (1944) as City Man (uncredited) • The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as Taoist Priest at Boy's Healing (uncredited) • The Fighting Seabees (1944) as Japanese Officer (uncredited) • The Purple Heart (1944) as Army Aide (uncredited) • Marine Raiders (1944) as Japanese Officer (uncredited) • China Sky (1945) as Orderly (uncredited) • Secret Agent X-9 (1945) as Japanese Pilot (uncredited) • First Yank Into Tokyo (1945) as Japanese Soldier (uncredited) • Prison Ship (1945) as Japanese Soldier (uncredited) • Shadows Over Chinatown (1946) as Curio Shop Owner (uncredited) • Deception (1946) as Wedding Guest (uncredited) • Green Dolphin Street (1947) as Chinese Longshoreman (uncredited) • The Beginning or the End (1947) as Japanese Army Officer (uncredited) • Her Husband's Affairs (1947) as Acrobat (uncredited) • To the Ends of the Earth (1948) as Chinese Driver (uncredited) • Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949) as Chinese Hatchet Man (uncredited) • Squadron of Doom (TV Movie) (1949) as Henry Kee • I Was an American Spy (1951) as Ho Sang (uncredited) • Peking Express (1951) as Train Conductor (uncredited) • Smuggler's Island (1951) as Native in Sampan (uncredited) • Macao (1952) as Hood (uncredited) • The Cisco Kid (TV Series) (1953) (Season 4 Episode 8: "Chinese Gold") as Chinese Worker (uncredited) • The Shanghai Story (1954) as Policeman (uncredited) • Autumn Leaves (1956) as Grocery Stocker (uncredited) • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 3 Episode 37: "The Canary Sedan") • Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) as Gomez's Friend (uncredited) • China Doll (1958) as Townsman (uncredited) • Peter Gunn (1958) (Season 1 Episode 10: "The Man with the Scar") as Cook • Rio Bravo (1959) as Burt (uncredited) • Adventures in Paradise (1959) (Season 1 Episode 4: "The Lady from South Chicago") as Chinese Merchant • The Mountain Road (1960) (uncredited) • Have Gun - Will Travel (TV Series) (1960) (Season 3 Episode 25: "The Hatchet Man") as 2nd Hatchet Man • Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1889
James B. Leong born at Shanghai.
1967
James B. Leong died at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Shanghai.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article James B. Leong, revision 1369384099 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Veteran Chinese Actor Becomes U.S. Citizen. The Los Angeles Times. July 26, 1958.
- 2.Young Chinese, Former Student Here, in City to Exhibit Film Play. The Muncie Evening Press. August 22, 1921.
- 3.Shadowgrams. The Wausau Daily Herald. June 21, 1920.
- 4.Brief Notes of Movie Land. The Casper Star-Tribune. December 10, 1922.
- 5.The Silent Drama. The Cincinnati Enquirer. June 26, 1921.
- 6.Movie Notes. The Austin American-Statesman. April 10, 1921.
- 7.The Real China on Celluloid. The Los Angeles Times. June 13, 1920.
- 8.Secrets of the Movies Revealed. The Evening News. January 13, 1922.
- 9.Camera Chatter. The Oakland Tribune. December 10, 1922.
- 10.Behind the Scenes in Hollywood. The Ottawa Journal. January 20, 1934.
- 11.United States, China Weaving a Silken Noose for Japan's Doomed Industry. The Moline Dispatch. May 6, 1943.
- 12.Leong in "Blood Alley". The El Paso Times. October 16, 1955.
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