Kam Fong Chun
Encyclopedia
Kam Fong Chun born Kam Tong Chun, was an American
actor
whose claim to fame was his 1968 to 1978 star performance as Chin Ho Kelly, a police detective on the CBS
television network
series
Hawaii Five-O
.
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 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.
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. 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 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.
asked him to shorten his name to Kam Fong when he was hired for Hawaii Five-O.
(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 would appear in the 2010 revival as Sgt. Duke Lukela in selected episodes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
whose claim to fame was his 1968 to 1978 star performance as Chin Ho Kelly, a police detective on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
.
Life
Kam Fong Chun was born in the KalihiKalihi
thumb|300px|Historically, Kalihi was an [[ahupua'a|ahupuaʻa]], or area of land ruled by chief or king and managed by the members of the [[alii|alii]]Kalihi is a neighborhood community of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States...
neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
. A 1938 graduate of President William McKinley High School
President William McKinley High School
President William McKinley High School, more commonly referred to as McKinley High School, is a public, co-educational college preparatory high school of the Hawaii State Department of Education and serves grades nine through twelve...
, he worked at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
shipyard in his 20s as a boiler maker and was a witness to the attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of 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
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
at the Honolulu Police Department
Honolulu Police Department
The Honolulu Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai'i, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu CDP....
. 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.
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. 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 bombers
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
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
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. CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
asked him to shorten his name to Kam Fong when he was hired for Hawaii Five-O.
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. CannellStephen J. Cannell
Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.-Early life:...
(The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, Baretta
Baretta
Baretta is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a milder version of a successful 1973–74 ABC series, Toma, starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police officer David Toma...
, The Commish
The Commish
The Commish is a television series that aired on ABC in the United States from 1991 to 1996. The series focused on the work and home life of a suburban police commissioner in upstate New York....
) 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 would appear in the 2010 revival as Sgt. Duke Lukela in selected episodes.
Filmography
- Ghost of the China Sea (1958)
- Cry for HappyCry for HappyCry for Happy is a 1961 colour movie directed by George Marshall.-Plot:A Navy photographer and his three-man team occupy a Tokyo geisha house during the Korean War. Though off-limits,...
(1961) - Gidget Goes HawaiianGidget Goes HawaiianGidget Goes Hawaiian is a 1961 musical romantic comedy film starring Deborah Walley and James Darren. Released by Columbia Pictures, the film is a sequel to the 1959 Sandra Dee "beach movie" vehicle Gidget....
(1961) - Seven Women from HellSeven Women from HellSeven Women From Hell is a 1961 war drama starring Patricia Owens, Denise Darcel and Cesar Romero about women prisoners in a Japanese World War II prison camp, interned with other prisoners.-Plot:...
(1961) - Diamond HeadDiamond Head (film)Diamond Head is a film starring Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, George Chakiris, and James Darren, directed by Guy Green, and released by Columbia Pictures. The original music score was composed by John Williams, Hugo Winterhalter composed the theme, and Darren sang the title song...
(1963) - Hawaii Five-OHawaii Five-OHawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
(1968–1978) - Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
(1982–1985) - Goodbye ParadiseGoodbye ParadiseGoodbye Paradise is a 1983 Australian film directed by Carl Schultz. On Queensland's Gold Coast in the early 1980s, a disgraced former cop, Michael Stacey writes a book exposing police corruption, does an investigation resulting in 2 murders, exposes a religious cult and watches the army begin a...
(1991) - Hawaii Five-O (1997)