
Leonard Strong
Acting
🎂 1908-08-12
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."
Cast credits(41)

The Claw
1965

King Felix
1958
1955

The Hitch-Hiker
1959

Ti Ling
1954

Shalmar
1954

1952

General Kumari
1960

1958

1959

Conductor
1959

1956

Manuel
1955

Luiz
1955

1952

Zanaga Martinez
1954

Ernie Wright
1953

Gen. Homma
1945

Kutina
1954

Mr. Chia
1944

Fortune Teller (uncredited)
1955

Lee Quong (uncredited)
1950

Japanese Officer
1943

Daru
1955

Shorty
1953

Ambulance Driver
1962

Hijikata
1945

Willis, Caretaker
1947

Tama's Father
1943

Ippy
1954

Wali-Akhun
1953

Donald Clark
1952

Mahindra
1954

Maj. Nogira
1945

Col. Kim Doo Yi
1954

Maj. Wan
1958

Count Akiri
1942

Bandit Chieftain
1946

Marcel Grandet
1947

Ming Tang
1948

Singh
1950