Everyone who loves Charlie Chan also seems to love "Number One Son - Lee Chan."
This half-hour documentary covers the life of actor Keye Luke who first became famous playing Charlie Chan's oldest son and then many years later regained more fame in a hit television series, "Kung Fu." Ironically, Luke went from playing the disciple of a master to being the master of a disciple.
A decent share of this bonus feature, which can be seen on the "Charlie Chan At The Race Track" DVD, involves "Vikki Luke." Keye Luke was her great uncle and she expresses everything really well. She is an excellent representative of the Luke family, if you will, and comes across as likable as her great Uncle was in his day. She has some nice, sentimental stories about him. She's married now but loves the Luke name so well, she kept it!
Luke was an artist before he was an actor. He painted murals and the ceiling at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Then - I'm condensing this as to not give away too much - he became involved in the Chan movie series, which starred Warner Oland as the famous detective. Luke loved Oland like a father and when the latter passed away, Luke decided to end his Chan films. In the next two decades he wound up doing a lot of supporting-actor roles. In the '50s, he also got the opportunity to play on Broadway, and he loved it, never missing a performance.
The big return to fame came with the TV series Kung Fu, where Luke played the glassy-eyed blind "Master Po."
Through it all, Luke, it was said here, remained a nice guy who is remembered fondly by people of several generations.
This half-hour documentary covers the life of actor Keye Luke who first became famous playing Charlie Chan's oldest son and then many years later regained more fame in a hit television series, "Kung Fu." Ironically, Luke went from playing the disciple of a master to being the master of a disciple.
A decent share of this bonus feature, which can be seen on the "Charlie Chan At The Race Track" DVD, involves "Vikki Luke." Keye Luke was her great uncle and she expresses everything really well. She is an excellent representative of the Luke family, if you will, and comes across as likable as her great Uncle was in his day. She has some nice, sentimental stories about him. She's married now but loves the Luke name so well, she kept it!
Luke was an artist before he was an actor. He painted murals and the ceiling at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Then - I'm condensing this as to not give away too much - he became involved in the Chan movie series, which starred Warner Oland as the famous detective. Luke loved Oland like a father and when the latter passed away, Luke decided to end his Chan films. In the next two decades he wound up doing a lot of supporting-actor roles. In the '50s, he also got the opportunity to play on Broadway, and he loved it, never missing a performance.
The big return to fame came with the TV series Kung Fu, where Luke played the glassy-eyed blind "Master Po."
Through it all, Luke, it was said here, remained a nice guy who is remembered fondly by people of several generations.
