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Soon Tek Oh (also known as Sun-Taek Oh, Soon-Tek Oh, or Soon-Taik Oh), a trailblazer of Asian-American theatre in the 1960s, was born on June 29, 1932, in Mokpo, Korea, during the period of Imperial Japanese occupation. He completed high school in Gwangju, South Korea, and pursued higher education at Yonsei University in Seoul. In 1959, his family, including a sister, emigrated to the United States, settling in Southern California.
Oh studied at USC before transferring to UCLA, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting and playwriting. He received performance training at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. His production of "Rashomon" in California led him, alongside actors Mako, James Hong, Beulah Quo, and five others, to co-found the influential East West Players theatre company in Los Angeles in 1965.
That same year, Oh made his television debut with a small role on "I Spy." Determined to challenge the limiting and submissive Asian stereotypes prevalent on 1960s TV shows like "The Wild, Wild West," "The Invaders," and "It Takes a Thief," he worked through theatre to expand the range of roles for Asian actors. He also established and guided other theatre groups, including the Korean American Theatre Ensemble. His companies produced a diverse repertoire, ranging from classics by Ibsen ("A Doll's House") and Shakespeare ("Twelfth Night") to Tony Award-winning productions ("Pippin," "Equus," "Sweeney Todd") and original contemporary works, several authored by Oh himself.
After uncredited roles as secret agents in films such as Murderers' Row (1966) and The President's Analyst (1967), Oh gained recognition playing Lt. Hip, an intelligence officer, in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). He continued to appear sporadically in films including Good Guys Wear Black (1978), The Final Countdown (1980), Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985), Steele Justice (1987), Biały smok (1987), Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987), Collision Course (1989), A Home of Our Own (1993), Red Sun Rising (1994), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), Yellow (1997) — the first film by and featuring Korean-Americans — and provided the voice of Fa Zhou, the father, in Disney's animated classic Mulan (1998). His television credits included multiple episodes of "Kung Fu," "Hawaii Five-0," "M*A*S*H," and "Magnum P.I.," as well as a recurring role as a lieutenant on "Charlie's Angels" (1976), and appearances in acclaimed miniseries such as East of Eden (1981) and Marco Polo (1982).
Both Oh and Mako made their Broadway debuts in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures" in 1976. His subsequent stage work featured performances in "The Woman Warrior" (1994) and "The Square" (2000). In 2008, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Diego Asian Film Festival.
Oh's final on-screen role was in the action movie Les formidables (2006). He was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which led to his retirement. Soon Tek Oh passed away from complications related to the illness in Los Angeles on April 4, 2018, at the age of 85.
