Burt Kwouk, a British character actor indelibly remembered for his work in the “Pink Panther” films as Cato, the manservant who sprang comic traps on the bumbling detective Jacques Clouseau with karate chops and nunchaku skill, died May 24. He was 85.
His agent, Jean Diamond, announced the death but did not disclose the cause or place.
As Cato Fong, Kwouk (pronounced Kwawk) was a highlight of the slapstick “Pink Panther” franchise. His boss Clouseau, originally played by Peter Sellers, tasked him with keeping the police inspector’s wits sharp through frequent, unexpected surprise attacks whenever Clouseau came home.
Their confrontations inevitably destroyed Clouseau’s apartment, where Cato hid behind doors or atop Clouseau’s four-poster bed. With the exception of major stunts, such as an 80-foot leap into the Seine, Sellers and Kwouk performed the fights themselves.
The “Pink Panther” films brought Kwouk greater visibility than many other British actors of Asian descent at the time, even as they trafficked in stereotypes. Clouseau referred to him as his “little yellow friend” with “little yellow skin.”
He appeared in sinister or henchmen roles in the James Bond films “Goldfinger” (1964) and “You Only Live Twice” (1967), as well as in a spoof of the Bond series, “Casino Royale” (1967), that starred his onscreen sparring partner Sellers as the ultra suave British secret agent.
On television, Kwouk had stints in the 1960s spy series “Danger Man” (“Secret Agent” in the United States), “The Avengers” and “The Saint,” and a 1982 appearance in the long-running British adventure series “Doctor Who.” In the 2000s, he played the electrician Entwistle on the British sitcom “Last of the Summer Wine.”
In what was perhaps his strangest role, he performed exaggerated, heavily-accented voiceovers for “Banzai,” a British spoof of Japanese gameshows that aired in the early 2000s. The show urged viewers to bet on how much a man’s genitals weighed or whether someone was hiding under “the shame of a wig.”
Kwouk was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 for his role in paving the way “for other actors from the Chinese community.”
Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Caroline Tebbs, and a son.
