Jack Soo Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Jack Soo
Acting
Biography
A genial, laid back, slumber-eyed character player especially adept at the relaxed wisecrack or dry comment, Japanese-American actor Jack Soo was born in Oakland, California, in 1917, his real name being Goro Suzuki. In the post-WWII years, he entertained as a stand-up performer in nightclubs and had made a reasonable dent on the Midwest circuit by the time he earned his big break playing the club MC/comedian in the Rodgers and Hammerstein hit Broadway musical "Flower Drum Song" in 1958. Three years later, Soo was upgraded to the Sammy Wong character in the film version and decided to settle in Hollywood. Over the next decade, despite a typical lack of roles for Asian-Americans, he managed to find a niche for his hip, deadpan demeanor on TV and a few other films including Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), and John Wayne's controversial pro-Vietnam War film The Green Berets (1968). Soo is probably best remembered for his smart-aleck Detective Sgt. Nick Yemana on Barney Miller (1974), one of the more popular sitcoms of the 1970s alongside Hal Linden and Abe Vigoda. Sadly, he died of cancer during the show's fifth season in 1979 at the height of his popularity.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Green Berets
Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for two missions in South Vietnam. The first is to strengthen a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy. The second is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.
Flower Drum Song
A young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown, from Hong Kong, with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers.
Return from Witch Mountain
Tony and Tia are other-worldly twins endowed with telekinesis. When their Uncle Bene drops them off in Los Angeles for an earthbound vacation, a display of their supernatural skill catches the eye of the nefarious Dr. Gannon and his partner in crime, Letha, who see rich possibilities in harnessing the children's gifts. They kidnap Tony, and Tia gives chase only to find Gannon is using her brother's powers against her.
The Oscar
An amoral lowlife accidentally stumbles into an acting career that sets him on a trajectory to Hollywood stardom. But everyone on whom he steps on the way to the top remembers when he is nominated for an Oscar and he runs a dirty campaign in an attempt to win.
She Lives!
A young couple searches for the cure for the girl's terminal cancer.
You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story
The film tells actor Jack Soo's story through a montage of film and television clips, rare footage, interviews with family members, friends, co-workers, and others who knew him best. From his early appearances on programs such as The Jack Benny Show and Valentines' Day, Soo's life is examined both in the historical context of the times, and the grandeur of an earlier Hollywood where stars like Soo succeeded in a multitude of artistic mediums, reminiscent of vaudevillian times. From Soo's early training as an announcer and stand-up comic, to his singing, acting and dancing career on Broadway, culminating with his signature role as Detective Nick Yemana, Soo's unique talent and dedication to his craft are fully explored and captured through a dazzling kaleidoscope of images, music, montages, interviews and stories.
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
TV star Jason Steel reluctantly becomes the sounding board for his best friends' bored wives, and must fend off their advances while managing his own fragile relationship.
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Millie Dillmount, a fearless young lady fresh from Salina, Kansas, determined to experience Life, sets out to see the world in the rip-roaring Twenties. With high spirits and wearing one of those new high hemlines, she arrives in New York to test the "modern" ideas she had been reading about back in Kansas: "I've taken the girl out of Kansas. Now I have to take Kansas out of the girl!"
The Monk
Underworld attorney Leo Barnes hires Gus Monk to safeguard a valuable envelope containing information on a mobster. Monk refuses — until he meets Mrs. Barnes and jumps on a merry-go-round of viciousness and murder.
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