Frank Tang (born Dai Jung Tong, zh, t=唐隸忠, j=tong4 dai6 zung1; November 27, 1905 – June 29, 1968) was a Chinese-American character actor, filmmaker, community leader, and restaurateur who was best-known for directing the 1936 Cantonese-language film ''
Sum Hun''.
Biography
Frank was born in San Francisco into a big Chinese-American family. His parents, Yee Tong and Wong Shee, were immigrants. His brother
Kam Tong
Kam Tong (December 18, 1906 – November 8, 1969) was a Chinese-American actor. He was best known for his role as Hey Boy on the CBS television series '' Have Gun – Will Travel'' and as Dr. Li in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein ...
would also become an actor.
He began his career in Hollywood in the late 1920s, and he got a rare chance to work as a director in 1936, when he teamed up with
Bruce Wong and
Esther Eng to make the Cantonese-language American film ''
Sum Hun''. He'd appear in over a dozen films afterward in smaller roles, in addition to serving as a technical advisor.
Later in life, he owned and operated a restaurant called Tang's in Los Angeles's Chinatown neighborhood.
He died in 1968 at the age of 62 after an illness, and was survived by his wife, Birdie, and several siblings.
Selected filmography
As director:
* ''
Sum Hun'' (1936)
As actor:
*''
The Hunters'' (1958)
*''
The Lineup'' (1958)
*''
The Seventh Sin
''The Seventh Sin'' is a 1957 American drama film directed by Ronald Neame and starring Eleanor Parker, Bill Travers and George Sanders. It is based on the 1925 novel '' The Painted Veil'' by W. Somerset Maugham.
Plot
In post-World War II Hong ...
'' (1957)
*''
Soldier of Fortune'' (1955)
*''
God Is My Co-Pilot'' (1945)
*''
Objective, Burma!
''Objective, Burma!'' is a 1945 American war film that is loosely based on the six-month raid by Merrill's Marauders in the Burma Campaign during the World War II, Second World War. Directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn, the film was ma ...
'' (1945)
*''
Dragon Seed'' (1944)
*''
The Purple Heart'' (1944)
*''
Destination Tokyo'' (1943)
*''
The Man from Down Under
''The Man from Down Under'' is an American 1943 drama film starring Charles Laughton as an Australian man who raises two war orphans.
Plot
After the end of World War I, Australian soldier Jocko Wilson (Charles Laughton) admires the spirit of a d ...
'' (1943)
*''
Salute to the Marines'' (1943)
*''
We've Never Been Licked'' (1943)
*''
West of Shanghai'' (1937)
*''
The Leathernecks Have Landed'' (1936)
*''
The Great Divide'' (1929)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tang, Frank
Film directors from San Francisco
American male film actors
American male actors of Chinese descent
20th-century American male actors
Male actors from San Francisco
American film directors of Chinese descent
1905 births
1968 deaths