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{{Short description|Hawaiian actor (1918–2002)}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name=Kam Fong Chun
|name=Kam Fong Chun
Line 9: Line 11:
|death_place=[[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]], U.S.
|death_place=[[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]], U.S.
|nationality=
|nationality=
|occupation=[[Honolulu Police Department]] officer<br>Actor
|occupation=Police officer, actor
|yearsactive=1958–1997
|yearsactive=1958–1997
|spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Esther N. Chun|1938|1944|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Gladys Lindo|1949|}}
}}
|children = 6, including [[Dennis Chun]]
}}
}}


'''Kam Fong Chun''' (May 27, 1918 – October 18, 2002), born '''Kam Tong Chun''', was an [[United States|American]] [[actor]], best known for his role as '''Chin Ho Kelly''', a [[police detective]] on the [[CBS]] [[television network]] [[Television program|series]] ''[[Hawaii Five-O]]''.
'''Kam Fong Chun''' (born '''Kam Tong Chun'''; May 27, 1918&nbsp;– October 18, 2002) was an Hawaiian [[police officer]] and actor, best known for his role as Chin Ho Kelly, a police [[detective]] on the [[CBS]] [[television network]] [[Television show|series]] ''[[Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series)|Hawaii Five-O]]''.


==Life==
==Life==
Kam Fong Chun was born in the [[Kalihi]] neighborhood of [[Honolulu]], [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]]. A 1938 graduate of [[President William McKinley High School]], he worked at [[Pearl Harbor]] shipyard in his 20s as a boiler maker and was a witness to the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941]]. After the death of his first wife and two eldest children in 1944, he applied for a job as a [[police officer]] at the [[Honolulu Police Department]]. He served there for sixteen years. After his retirement from the police force, he worked as a disc jockey and sold real estate in addition to doing community theater.
Kam Fong Chun was born in the [[Kalihi]] neighborhood of [[Honolulu]], [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]]. A 1938 graduate of [[President William McKinley High School]], he worked at [[Pearl Harbor]] shipyard in his 20s as a boiler maker and was a witness to the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941]]. After the death of his first wife and two eldest children in 1944, he applied for a job as a [[police officer]] at the [[Honolulu Police Department]]. He served there for 16 years. After his retirement from the police force, he worked as a disc jockey and sold real estate in addition to doing community theater.


Chun's life was filled with tragedies. His father had an affair, which led to his parents' divorce and the splitting of the family. The two eldest children went with their father and the younger five, including 7-year-old Chun, lived with their mother. The affair also led to Chun's father being forced out of the family business by his paternal grandfather, which left the family in poverty.<ref>[http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/kamfong.htm Kam Fong]</ref> Chun watched a brother burn to death as he was painting the family home and someone lit a match. On June 8, 1944, Chun lost his family in a freak air disaster that devastated their home in Honolulu. Two [[B-24 Liberator|B-24 bombers]] collided over the Chun residence, killing wife Esther, four-year-old daughter Marilyn and two-year-old son Donald.
Chun's life was filled with tragedies. His father had an affair, which led to his parents' divorce and the splitting of the family. The two eldest children went with their father and the younger five, including seven-year-old Chun, lived with their mother. The affair also led to Chun's father being forced out of the family business by his paternal grandfather, which left the family in poverty.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/kamfong.htm |title=Kam Fong |access-date=2005-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831235958/http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/kamfong.htm |archive-date=2005-08-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Chun watched a brother burn to death as he was painting the family home and someone lit a match. On June 8, 1944, Chun lost his family in a freak air disaster that devastated their home in Honolulu. Two B-25 bombers collided over the Chun residence, killing wife Esther, four-year-old daughter Marilyn and two-year-old son Donald.


Chun later married Gladys Lindo in 1949. They had two sons, Dennis and Dickson, and daughters, Brenda and Valerie.
Chun later married Gladys Lindo in 1949. They had two sons, [[Dennis Chun|Dennis]] and Dickson, and daughters, Brenda and Valerie.


===Stage name===
===Stage name===
Chun's stage name came from a misunderstanding of his first name by his first teacher, who taught him to write Kam Fong Chun instead of his birthname, Kam Tong Chun. Due to confusion as he got older, he later legalized his name to the former. [[CBS]] asked him to shorten his name to '''Kam Fong''' when he was hired for ''Hawaii Five-O''.
Chun's stage name came from a misunderstanding of his first name by his first teacher, who taught him to write Kam Fong Chun instead of his birth name, Kam Tong Chun. Due to confusion as he got older, he later legalized his name to the former. [[CBS]] asked him to shorten his name to '''Kam Fong''' when he was hired for ''Hawaii Five-O''.


===Proposed 1997 ''Five-O'' revival===
===Proposed 1997 ''Five-O'' revival===
Talk had centered around a remake or a feature film version of the show for years. In 1997, CBS and [[Stephen J. Cannell]] (''[[The Rockford Files]]'', ''[[Baretta]]'', ''[[The Commish]]'') collaborated on a pilot for a possible new Five-O series. The pilot would introduce some of the new cast and feature former regulars from the original series, including Fong. According to Five-O fan and author of a book on the show, Karen Rhodes, Fong was asked to reprise his role and appear in the pilot. Neither Fong nor any of the other regulars told Cannell that Chin Ho had been killed off at the end of the tenth season. This was only discovered after all of Fong's scenes had been shot, and to excise him from the project would have caused delays and overruns in cost. Hoping that CBS executives would not remember the one episode out of hundreds, Cannell screened the pilot.
Talk had centered around a remake or a feature film version of the show for years. In 1997, CBS and [[Stephen J. Cannell]] (''[[The Rockford Files]]'', ''[[Baretta]]'', ''[[The Commish]]'') collaborated on a pilot for a possible new ''Five-O'' series. The pilot would introduce some of the new cast and feature former regulars from the original series, including Fong. According to ''Five-O'' fan and author of a book on the show, Karen Rhodes, Fong was asked to reprise his role and appear in the pilot. Neither Fong nor any of the other regulars told Cannell that Chin Ho had been killed off at the end of the tenth season. This was only discovered after all of Fong's scenes had been shot, and to excise him from the project would have caused delays and overruns in cost. Hoping that CBS executives would not remember the one episode out of hundreds, Cannell screened the pilot.


His son [[Dennis Chun]] appears in the [[Hawaii Five-0|2010 reboot]] as HPD Sgt. Duke Lukela in selected episodes.<ref>[http://www.staradvertiser.com/features/20101114_five_0_had_hoped_for_macarthur_cameo_in_champ_box_mystery.html Five-O had hoped for MacArthur Cameo in Champ Box Mystery, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, November 14, 2010]</ref>
His son [[Dennis Chun]] had a recurring role in the [[Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series)|2010 reboot]] as HPD Sgt. Duke Lukela.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/features/20101114_five_0_had_hoped_for_macarthur_cameo_in_champ_box_mystery.html |title=Five-O had hoped for MacArthur Cameo in Champ Box Mystery, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, November 14, 2010 |access-date=December 14, 2010 |archive-date=November 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117054400/http://www.staradvertiser.com/features/20101114_five_0_had_hoped_for_macarthur_cameo_in_champ_box_mystery.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Beginning with the [[Hawaii Five-0 (2010 TV series, season 8)|8th season]] he was promoted to a series regular.


===Death===
===Death===
Kam Fong Chun died on October 18, 2002, at the age of 84.<ref>[http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Oct/30/br/br04p.html 'Five-O' actor Kam Fong Chun dead at 84]</ref>
Kam Fong Chun died from [[lung cancer]] on October 18, 2002, at the age of 84.<ref>[http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Oct/30/br/br04p.html 'Five-O' actor Kam Fong Chun dead at 84]</ref>


==Filmography==
==Filmography==


*''Ghost of the China Sea'' (1958) - Pvt. Hakashima
*''Ghost of the China Sea'' (1958)&nbsp;— Pvt. Hakashima
*''[[The Lost Missile]]'' (1958)&nbsp;— Chinese Officer (uncredited)
*''[[Cry for Happy]]'' (1961)
*''[[Gidget Goes Hawaiian]]'' (1961)
*''[[Cry for Happy]]'' (1961)&nbsp;— Chin, Sailor (uncredited)
*''[[Seven Women from Hell]]'' (1961)
*''[[Gidget Goes Hawaiian]]'' (1961)&nbsp;— Hotel Night Clerk (uncredited)
*''[[Seven Women from Hell]]'' (1961)&nbsp;— Burly Guard (uncredited)
*''[[Diamond Head (film)|Diamond Head]]'' (1963)
*''[[Diamond Head (film)|Diamond Head]]'' (1962)&nbsp;— Loe Kim Lee (uncredited)
*''[[Hawaii Five-O]]'' (1968–1978) - Det. Chin Ho Kelly
*''[[Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series, season 1)|Hawaii Five-O]]'' (1968–1978)&nbsp;— Det. Chin Ho Kelly
*''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'' (1982–1985)
*''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'' (1982–1985)&nbsp;— Kanki / Kam Chung
*''[[Goodbye Paradise]]'' (1991)
*''Goodbye Paradise'' (1991)&nbsp;— Old man Young
*''Hawaii Five-O'' (1997)
*''Hawaii Five-O'' (1997)&nbsp;— Det. Chin Ho Kelly (final film role)


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{IMDb name|0284578}}
* {{IMDb name|0284578}}
* {{cite web |url=http://starbulletin.com/2002/10/31/news/story10.html |work=[[The Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |title=Kam Fong rose from hard times to 'Five-0' (obituary) |location=Honolulu, HI |accessdate=2013-04-15 |first=Nadine |last=Kam |publisher=Oahu Publications Inc. (Subsidiary of [[Black Press]]) |date=2002-10-31}}
* {{cite web |url=http://starbulletin.com/2002/10/31/news/story10.html |work=[[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |title=Kam Fong rose from hard times to 'Five-0' (obituary) |location=Honolulu, HI |access-date=2013-04-15 |first=Nadine |last=Kam |publisher=Oahu Publications Inc. (Subsidiary of [[Black Press]]) |date=2002-10-31 |archive-date=2008-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628110827/http://starbulletin.com/2002/10/31/news/story10.html |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite web |first=Karen |last=Rhodes |url=http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/pilot-dead.htm |title=In The Can and Out of the Loop |accessdate=2013-04-15 |date=2011-04-05 |origyear=July, 1997}} An account of the revival attempt and Kam Fong
*{{cite web |first=Karen |last=Rhodes |url=http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/pilot-dead.htm |title=In The Can and Out of the Loop |access-date=2013-04-15 |date=2011-04-05 |orig-year=July, 1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204040618/http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/pilot-dead.htm |archive-date=2012-02-04 }} An account of the revival attempt and Kam Fong
*[http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/ The Hawaii Five-O Home Page] Retrieved Aug 24, 2016
*[http://www.mjq.net/fiveo/ The Hawaii Five-O Home Page] Retrieved August 24, 2016
* {{Find a Grave|6897667|Kam Fong}}
* {{Find a Grave|6897667|Kam Fong}}

{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Chun, Kam Fong}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chun, Kam Fong}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
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[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:American municipal police officers]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Hawaii]]
[[Category:American male actors of Chinese descent]]
⚫
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer]]
[[Category:Male actors from Honolulu]]
[[Category:Male actors from Honolulu]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:Honolulu Police Department officers]]
[[Category:Male actors from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Hawaii]]
⚫
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:1918 births]]
⚫
[[Category:2002 deaths]]

Latest revision as of 06:18, 23 November 2024

Kam Fong Chun
Born
Kam Tong Chun

(1918-05-27)May 27, 1918
Kalihi, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
DiedOctober 18, 2002(2002-10-18) (aged 84)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation(s)Police officer, actor
Years active1958–1997
Spouses
Esther N. Chun
​
​
(m. 1938; died 1944)​
Gladys Lindo
​
(m. 1949)​
Children6, including Dennis Chun

Kam Fong Chun (born Kam Tong Chun; May 27, 1918 – October 18, 2002) was an Hawaiian police officer and actor, best known for his role as Chin Ho Kelly, a police detective on the CBS television network series Hawaii Five-O.

Life

[edit]

Kam Fong Chun was born in the Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. A 1938 graduate of President William McKinley High School, he worked at Pearl Harbor shipyard in his 20s as a boiler maker and was a witness to the attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. After the death of his first wife and two eldest children in 1944, he applied for a job as a police officer at the Honolulu Police Department. He served there for 16 years. After his retirement from the police force, he worked as a disc jockey and sold real estate in addition to doing community theater.

Chun's life was filled with tragedies. His father had an affair, which led to his parents' divorce and the splitting of the family. The two eldest children went with their father and the younger five, including seven-year-old Chun, lived with their mother. The affair also led to Chun's father being forced out of the family business by his paternal grandfather, which left the family in poverty.[1] Chun watched a brother burn to death as he was painting the family home and someone lit a match. On June 8, 1944, Chun lost his family in a freak air disaster that devastated their home in Honolulu. Two B-25 bombers collided over the Chun residence, killing wife Esther, four-year-old daughter Marilyn and two-year-old son Donald.

Chun later married Gladys Lindo in 1949. They had two sons, Dennis and Dickson, and daughters, Brenda and Valerie.

Stage name

[edit]

Chun's stage name came from a misunderstanding of his first name by his first teacher, who taught him to write Kam Fong Chun instead of his birth name, Kam Tong Chun. Due to confusion as he got older, he later legalized his name to the former. CBS asked him to shorten his name to Kam Fong when he was hired for Hawaii Five-O.

Proposed 1997 Five-O revival

[edit]

Talk had centered around a remake or a feature film version of the show for years. In 1997, CBS and Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files, Baretta, The Commish) collaborated on a pilot for a possible new Five-O series. The pilot would introduce some of the new cast and feature former regulars from the original series, including Fong. According to Five-O fan and author of a book on the show, Karen Rhodes, Fong was asked to reprise his role and appear in the pilot. Neither Fong nor any of the other regulars told Cannell that Chin Ho had been killed off at the end of the tenth season. This was only discovered after all of Fong's scenes had been shot, and to excise him from the project would have caused delays and overruns in cost. Hoping that CBS executives would not remember the one episode out of hundreds, Cannell screened the pilot.

His son Dennis Chun had a recurring role in the 2010 reboot as HPD Sgt. Duke Lukela.[2] Beginning with the 8th season he was promoted to a series regular.

Death

[edit]

Kam Fong Chun died from lung cancer on October 18, 2002, at the age of 84.[3]

Filmography

[edit]
  • Ghost of the China Sea (1958) — Pvt. Hakashima
  • The Lost Missile (1958) — Chinese Officer (uncredited)
  • Cry for Happy (1961) — Chin, Sailor (uncredited)
  • Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) — Hotel Night Clerk (uncredited)
  • Seven Women from Hell (1961) — Burly Guard (uncredited)
  • Diamond Head (1962) — Loe Kim Lee (uncredited)
  • Hawaii Five-O (1968–1978) — Det. Chin Ho Kelly
  • Magnum, P.I. (1982–1985) — Kanki / Kam Chung
  • Goodbye Paradise (1991) — Old man Young
  • Hawaii Five-O (1997) — Det. Chin Ho Kelly (final film role)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Kam Fong". Archived from the original on 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2005-09-02.
  2. ^ "Five-O had hoped for MacArthur Cameo in Champ Box Mystery, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, November 14, 2010". Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  3. ^ 'Five-O' actor Kam Fong Chun dead at 84
[edit]
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