Victor Sen Yung

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.

Known For	Acting
Most Rating	4.63
Birthday	1915-10-18
Place of Birth	San Francisco, California, USA
Also Known As	Victor Cheung Young, Sen Yew Cheung, Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Young, Victor Young,

The Movie Orgy

Chinatown at Midnight

Flower Drum Song

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

Charlie Chan in Reno

Charlie Chan in Honolulu

Forbidden

Woman on the Run

Castle in the Desert

Moontide

Betrayal from the East

She Demons

The Left Hand of God

The Breaking Point

Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise

Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum

Charlie Chan in Panama

Murder Over New York

Charlie Chan in Rio

Dead Men Tell

Dangerous Money

Shadows Over Chinatown

The Trap

The Hunters

The Flame

Jet Attack

The Letter

Across the Pacific

Docks of New Orleans

The Chinese Ring

The Shanghai Chest

The Feathered Serpent

The Golden Eye

A Yank on the Burma Road

China

The Shanghai Story

Tuna Clipper

Night Plane from Chungking

Shadows Over Shanghai

The Crimson Key

Mr. Moto Takes a Chance

The Sickle or the Cross

Kung Fu: The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon

The Killer Elite

Web of Danger

Secret Agent of Japan

Escape to Paradise

The Good Earth

Lost Angel

To the Ends of the Earth

Target Hong Kong

Peking Express

Accused of Murder

Winged Victory

Key to the City

Manila Calling

Cripple Creek

The Hawaiians

The Rawhide Years

The Blue Gardenia

Soldier of Fortune

Double or Nothing

Jubilee Trail

Rogues' Regiment

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

Thank You, Mr. Moto

Little Tokyo, U.S.A.

Intrigue

The Man with Bogart's Face

Flight to Hong Kong

Valley of Fire

Secrets of Monte Carlo

Confessions of an Opium Eater

Grounds for Marriage

Hong Kong

The Red Pony

The Saga of Hemp Brown

The Law and the Lady

Jump Into Hell

And Baby Makes Three