
Victor Sen Yung
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1915-10-18
Day of Death
1980-11-01 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Victor Sen Yung
Biography
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.
Acting
(1980)
The Man with Bogart's Face
as Mr. Wing
(1975)
The Killer Elite
as Wei Chi
(1973)
The Red Pony
as Mr. Sing / Carni man / Mr. Green
(1972)
(1970)
The Hawaiians
as Chun Fat (uncredited)
(1968)
The Movie Orgy
as Self (archive footage)
(1968)
A Flea in Her Ear
as Oke Saki
(1962)
Confessions of an Opium Eater
as Wing Young
(1961)
Flower Drum Song
as Frankie Wing
(1958)
The Hunters
as Korean farmer
(1958)
The Saga of Hemp Brown
as Chang
(1958)
She Demons
as Sammy Ching
(1958)
Jet Attack
as Capt. Chon
(1957)
Men in War
as North Korean Sniper Prisoner
(1956)
Accused of Murder
as Hank - Bayliss' Houseboy (uncredited)
(1956)
The Rawhide Years
as Chang - Steward (uncredited)
(1956)
Flight to Hong Kong
as Airline Ticket Clerk (uncredited)
(1955)
Blood Alley
as Cpl. Wang
(1955)
The Left Hand of God
as John Wong
(1955)
Soldier of Fortune
as Goldie - Hotel Waiter (uncredited)
(1955)
Jump Into Hell
as Lt. Thatch
(1954)
Jubilee Trail
as Mickey - Chinese Man (uncredited)
(1954)
The Shanghai Story
as Sun Lee
(1954)
Port of Hell
as Detonation Ship Radioman
(1954)
Trader Tom of the China Seas
as Wang
(1953)
The Blue Gardenia
as Blue Gardenia Waiter (uncredited)
(1953)
Forbidden
as Allan Chung
(1953)
Target Hong Kong
as Johnny Wing (uncredited)
(1952)
The Sniper
as Tom
(1952)
Cripple Creek
as Postal Clerk (uncredited)
(1952)
Hong Kong
as Mr. Howe (uncredited)
(1951)
Grounds for Marriage
as Oscar, Chris' Valet
(1951)
Peking Express
as Chinese Captain (uncredited)
(1951)
The Groom Wore Spurs
as Ignacio
(1951)
Valley of Fire
as Ching Moon
(1951)
Secrets of Monte Carlo
as Chinese Clerk (uncredited)
(1951)
The Law and the Lady
as Chinese Manager (uncredited)
(1950)
The Breaking Point
as Mr. Sing
(1950)
Key to the City
as MC at the Blue Duck (uncredited)
(1950)
Woman on the Run
as Sammy Chung
(1950)
A Ticket to Tomahawk
as Long Time
(1949)
Red Light
as Vincent (uncredited)
(1949)
Chinatown at Midnight
as Hotel Proprietor
(1949)
State Department: File 649
as Johnny Han
(1949)
The Sickle or the Cross
as Major
(1949)
And Baby Makes Three
as Lem Kee
(1949)
(1949)
Tuna Clipper
as Oriental Dock Worker
(1949)
Oh, You Beautiful Doll
as Houseboy
(1948)
Rogues' Regiment
as Rickshaw Boy (uncredited)
(1948)
The Shanghai Chest
as Tommy Chan
(1948)
To the Ends of the Earth
as Chinese Pilot (uncredited)
(1948)
The Feathered Serpent
as Tommy Chan
(1948)
Half Past Midnight
as Sam
(1948)
The Golden Eye
as Tommy Chan (as Victor Sen Young)
(1948)
Docks of New Orleans
as Tommy Chan
(1947)
The Flame
as Chang
(1947)
Intrigue
as Western Union Clerk (uncredited)
(1947)
The Chinese Ring
as Tommy Chan
(1947)
Web of Danger
as Sam
(1947)
The Crimson Key
as Wing - Houseboy
(1946)
Dangerous Money
as Jimmy Chan
(1946)
The Trap
as Jimmy Chan
(1946)
Shadows Over Chinatown
as Jimmy Chan
(1946)
Dangerous Millions
as Lin Chow
(1946)
G.I. War Brides
as Waiter (uncredited)
(1945)
Betrayal from the East
as Omaya
(1944)
Winged Victory
as Lee (uncredited)
(1943)
China
as Lin Wei
(1943)
Lost Angel
as Chinese Man (uncredited)
(1943)
Night Plane from Chungking
as Captain Po
(1942)
Moontide
as Jimmy Takeo
(1942)
Across the Pacific
as Joe Totsuiko
(1942)
A Yank on the Burma Road
as Wing (as Sen Yung)
(1942)
Castle in the Desert
as Jimmy Chan
(1942)
Manila Calling
as Armando
(1942)
The Mad Martindales
as Jefferson Gow
(1942)
Secret Agent of Japan
as Fu Yen
(1942)
(1941)
They Met in Bombay
as Gin Ling (uncredited)
(1941)
Dead Men Tell
as Jimmy Chan
(1941)
Charlie Chan in Rio
as Jimmy Chan
(1940)
The Letter
as Ong Chi Seng
(1940)
Murder Over New York
as Jimmy Chan
(1940)
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
as Jimmy Chan
(1940)
Charlie Chan in Panama
as Jimmy Chan (as Sen Yung)
(1940)
Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum
as Jimmy Chan (as Sen Yung)
(1939)
Barricade
as Undetermined Role
(1939)
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
as Jimmy Chan
(1939)
Charlie Chan in Reno
as Jimmy Chan
(1939)
Torchy Blane in Chinatown
as Chinese Entertainer with Sword
(1939)
(1939)
20,000 Men a Year
as Harold Chong
(1938)
International Settlement
as Bellboy / Onlooker in Street
(1938)
Shadows Over Shanghai
as Wang
(1938)
Charlie Chan in Honolulu
as James Chan
(1938)
Mr. Moto Takes a Chance
as Soldier
(1937)
The Good Earth
as Peasant (uncredited)
(1937)
Double or Nothing
as Minor Role (uncredited)
(1937)
Thank You, Mr. Moto
as Onlooker with Street Acrobats / Elevator Operator (uncredited)