Leonard Strong
Biography: Leonard Clarence Strong (born 12 August 1908, Salt Lake City, Utah - d. 23 January 1980, Glendale, California was a prolific American character actor specialising in playing Asian roles. Beginning with Little Tokyo, U.S.A in 1942, Strong played a gamut of roles as Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Thais, etc. in films such as Dragon Seed (1944),Up in Arms (1944), Jack London (1943), Salute to the Marines (1943), Behind the Rising Sun (1943), Night Plane from Chungking (1943), Bombardier (1943),Underground Agent (1942), and Manila Calling (1942). He played the Thai interpreter in both Anna and the King of Siam and its musical remake The King and I. Strong also appeared in the movie Shane (1953) as homesteader Ernie Wright. Strong achieved some pop culture notoriety for his role on television as "The Claw" on Get Smart. He appeared in a season-five episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) "The Cure" written by horror writer Robert Bloch. Set deep in an Amazon jungle, Strong plays Luiz, a loyal native who speaks broken English and saves his employer, an oil explorer, from the attempted murder of his supposedly mentally ill and unfaithful wife. Something gets lost in the translation when his employer wants Strong to take her to a psychiatrist 200 miles down river, and he takes her instead to a native headshrinker. The denouement comes when Strong returns alone to the shock of his employer. He says, "I do what you tell me. I take her to my people. The best headshrinkers in the world". Then, pulling his employer's wife's now shrunken head out of a bag, he says, "Best job in the world." Another notable television role was his haunting and mostly silent portrayal of the title character in the original Twilight Zone episode, "The Hitch-Hiker", which is often listed as one of the ten best episodes of the series. With his thumb extended, seeking a ride, and asking "Going my way?", Strong is seen in one of the half-dozen, seconds-long scenes used at the start of every one of the 30 DVDs in the CBS DVD five-season collection, "The Twilight Zone, The Definitive Edition."
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: August 12, 1908
Deathday: January 23, 1980
Popularity:
Known For
Shane
1953-04-23
Shane
Overview: A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
Genres: Drama Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-04-23
Popularity:
Backfire
1950-01-26
Backfire
Overview: When he's discharged from a military hospital, ex-GI Bob Corey goes on a search for his army buddy Steve Connolly. A reformed crook, Connolly is on the lam from a trumped-up murder rap, and Corey hopes to clear his pal. Tagging along is Army nurse Julie Benson, who has fallen for Corey.
Genres: Mystery Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-01-26
Popularity:
Scared Stiff
1953-04-27
Scared Stiff
Overview: A nightclub singer and his partner escape mobsters by fleeing to Cuba with a beautiful heiress, who has inherited a haunted castle on an isolated island. The trio hunt for a hidden treasure and encounter a ghost, a zombie, and a mysterious killer...
Genres: Music Comedy Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-04-27
Popularity:
Hell's Half Acre
1954-06-01
Hell's Half Acre
Overview: A woman travels to Hawaii to find out if a man in prison there is actually her missing husband.
Genres: Drama Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-06-01
Popularity:
Cult of the Cobra
1955-03-30
Cult of the Cobra
Overview: While stationed in Asia, six American G.I.'s witness the secret ritual of Lamians (worshipers of women who can change into serpents). When discovered by the cult, the High Lamian Priest vows that "the Cobra Goddess will avenge herself". Once back in the United States, a mysterious woman enters into their lives and accidents begin to happen. The shadow of a cobra is seen just before each death.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-03-30
Popularity:
Underground Agent
1942-12-03
Underground Agent
Overview: In this espionage caper, a government spy must keep enemy agents from spying upon a defense plant. His work is made easier by his newest invention, a word scrambler which makes it difficult for the enemy agent.
Genres: Romance Action Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-12-03
Popularity:
Cargo to Capetown
1950-04-01
Cargo to Capetown
Overview: A sailor and his captain fight over a beautiful girl.
Genres: Drama Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-04-01
Popularity:
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1955-08-18
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
Overview: A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-08-18
Popularity:
Backlash
1947-03-01
Backlash
Overview: In a series of flashbacks, shows that attorney John Morland has given a lift to a hitchhiker who turns out to be a murderer. As a result, Morland himself is implicated in a killing. A pair of detectives discover that Morland has been having business problems and no end of difficulties with his wife Catherine. The trail of clues leads to a surprising revelation.
Genres: Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-03-01
Popularity:
The Keys of the Kingdom
1944-12-15
The Keys of the Kingdom
Overview: A young priest, Father Chisholm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christian Chinese. While his boyhood friend, also a priest, flourishes in his calling as a priest in a more Christian area of the world, Father Chisholm struggles. He encounters hostility, isolation, disease, poverty and a variety of set backs which humble him, but make him more determined than ever to succeed.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-12-15
Popularity:
Back to Bataan
1945-05-30
Back to Bataan
Overview: An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-05-30
Popularity:
Jet Attack
1958-02-15
Jet Attack
Overview: A Soviet nurse helps a U.S. pilot, his buddies and a scientist escape from North Korea. American International Pictures originally distributed this film as a double feature with "Suicide Battalion".
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-02-15
Popularity:
Escape from Zahrain
1962-05-23
Escape from Zahrain
Overview: Yul Brynner plays political leader Sharif who is sprung from a police van on his way to a firing squad by young loyalists led by Sal Mineo. Yul and the other prisoners kidnap an ambulance and head into the Arabian desert with the police in hot pursuit. All the performances are magnificent: Sal Mineo showing his acting talents, Jack Warden in a wiseguy performance as an employee of Zahrain oil who was involved in embezzlement, Anthony Caruso as a slimy psychotic and the underrated Madlyn Rhue as a nurse who becomes emotionally involved in the proceedings.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-05-23
Popularity:
Prisoner of War
1954-05-04
Prisoner of War
Overview: American soldiers, captured by North Korean's, are periodically brainwashed into giving up their capitalist ways to join the communist movement.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-05-04
Popularity:
Bombardier
1943-05-14
Bombardier
Overview: A documentary/drama about the training of bombardiers during WWII. Major Chick Davis proves to the U.S. Army the superiority of high altitude precision bombing, and establishes a school for bombardiers. Training is followed in semi-documentary style, with personal dramas in subplots. The climax is a spectacular, if somewhat jingoistic, battle sequence.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-05-14
Popularity:
First Yank into Tokyo
1945-09-05
First Yank into Tokyo
Overview: A U.S. pilot undergoes plastic surgery and drops into Japan to get a captive scientist's (Marc Cramer) atomic secrets.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-05
Popularity:
The Naked Jungle
1954-03-03
The Naked Jungle
Overview: The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.
Genres: Adventure Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-03-03
Popularity:
Sword of the Avenger
1948-06-02
Sword of the Avenger
Overview: Roberto Balagtas is falsely arrested for treason and sent to prison where he is tortured. He escapes with other prisoners, but only Batagtas survives the escape, carrying with him a treasure map left by one of the others. He crosses paths with Ming Tang (Strong) and a group of Chinese smugglers, with whom he finds the treasure. The booty makes him extremely wealthy, and he changes his name to Don Diego Sebastian. He then goes back to the Philippines to seek his revenge.
Genres: Adventure Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-06-02
Popularity:
Bengal Brigade
1954-11-06
Bengal Brigade
Overview: Year 1856, British India. Capt. Jeffrey Claybourne is severely punished after disobeying an order. Feeling unworthy of his fiancée Vivian Morrow, the daughter of his superior officer, Claybourne leaves the army until he could regain his reputation. When the Rajah Karam launches an attack on the British forces in India, Claybourne finds a chance at redemption.
Genres: War Adventure History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-11-06
Popularity:
Blood on the Sun
1945-04-26
Blood on the Sun
Overview: Nick Condon, an American journalist in 20s Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.
Genres: Action Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-04-26
Popularity:
Destination Gobi
1953-03-20
Destination Gobi
Overview: A group of US Navy weathermen taking measurements in the Gobi desert in World War II are forced to seek the help of Mongol nomads to regain their ship while under attack from the Japanese.
Genres: War Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-03-20
Popularity:
The Atomic City
1952-05-01
The Atomic City
Overview: Spies hold the son of a nuclear physicist (Gene Barry) hostage in exchange for the Los Alamos bomb formula.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-05-01
Popularity:
Jewels of Brandenburg
1947-05-02
Jewels of Brandenburg
Overview: A former secret agent is sent to retrieve a priceless collection of stolen jewels from a Lisbon nightclub owner who worked both sides during World War II.
Genres: Action Crime Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-05-02
Popularity:
Behind the Rising Sun
1943-08-01
Behind the Rising Sun
Overview: A Japanese publisher urges his American-educated son to side with the Axis.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-08-01
Popularity:
Dangerous Millions
1946-11-27
Dangerous Millions
Overview: Eight strangers meet in Shanghai to stake claims to the fortune of a late shipping magnate, then must evade a murderer in their midst.
Genres: Adventure Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-11-27
Popularity: