Character actor Kim Chan died 5 October 2008 at his home in Brooklyn, New York. Aged 93 or 94, his family fled Canton, China, for the United States in 1928. He was working in his family’s restaurant, the House of Chan (located in Manhattan’s theatre district), when he got into the entertainment business.
His film and television roles began with his first film role, in A Face in the Crowd (1957), but perhaps his best role was as Jonno, Jerry Lewis’s butler, in The King of Comedy (1983). He also appeared in more than 50 episodes of the spin-off tv series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, in which he played two roles: apothecary/martial arts expert Lo Si, “the Ancient”, and evil monk Ping Hai.
Chan’s genre roles include: The Secret Adventure of Jules Verne (2000), four episodes of Now and Again (1999-2000), The Fifth Element (1997), Alice (1990), Second Sight (1989), and CBS Summer Playhouse‘s “Barrington” (1987).