Leonard Strong

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."

Known For: Acting

Born: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, 1908-08-12

Died: 1980-01-23

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1942	Underground Agent	Count Akiri	0
2	1943	Bombardier	Japanese Officer	55
3	1943	Behind the Rising Sun	Tama's Father	57
4	1944	The Keys of the Kingdom	Mr. Chia	70
5	1945	Blood on the Sun	Hijikata	58
6	1945	Back to Bataan	Gen. Homma	61
7	1945	First Yank into Tokyo	Maj. Nogira	54
8	1946	Dangerous Millions	Bandit Chieftain	48
9	1947	Backlash	Willis, Caretaker	49
10	1947	Jewels of Brandenburg	Marcel Grandet	50
11	1948	Sword of the Avenger	Ming Tang	80
12	1950	Backfire	Lee Quong (uncredited)	59
13	1950	Cargo to Capetown	Singh	59
14	1952	The Atomic City	Donald Clark	52
15	1953	Destination Gobi	Wali-Akhun	57
16	1953	Shane	Ernie Wright	74
17	1953	Scared Stiff	Shorty	64
18	1954	The Naked Jungle	Kutina	64
19	1954	Prisoner of War	Col. Kim Doo Yi	39
20	1954	Hell's Half Acre	Ippy	55
21	1954	Bengal Brigade	Mahindra	53
22	1955	Cult of the Cobra	Daru	60
23	1955	Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing	Fortune Teller (uncredited)	60
24	1958	Jet Attack	Maj. Wan	51
25	1962	Escape from Zahrain	Ambulance Driver	62

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1952	Dangerous Assignment		35
2	1952	Terry and the Pirates		30
3	1954	The Lone Wolf	Ti Ling	70
4	1954	The Lone Wolf	Shalmar	70
5	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	Zanaga Martinez	78
6	1955	Navy Log		45
7	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Manuel	77
8	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Luiz	77
9	1956	Dr. Fu Manchu		50
10	1958	Peter Gunn	King Felix	65
11	1958	77 Sunset Strip		67
12	1959	One Step Beyond	Conductor	56
13	1959	The Twilight Zone	The Hitch-Hiker	85
14	1959	The Alaskans		55
15	1960	The Islanders	General Kumari	80
16	1965	Get Smart	The Claw	79

Leonard Strong

Film

Television