Nathan Jung

Nathan Jung (November 29, 1946 – April 24, 2021) was an American actor and stuntman. Due to his height, he was usually cast in "heavy" or "enforcer" roles.

Career

Television

Jung played the character of Genghis Khan on Star Trek: The Original Series in the episode, "The Savage Curtain" (1969), an axe-wielding villain named "The Dark Rider" who fought David Carradine in the TV series Kung Fu on the episode "Arrogant Dragon" (1974), and appeared opposite Bruce Lee as a Tong Enforcer in Lee's only pure acting (and non-martial arts) role on the TV show Here Come the Brides, in the episode "Marriage, Chinese Style" (1969). Jung also played Saburyo, Helen Funai's cousin on an episode of Sanford and Son entitled "Home Sweet Home" (1974).

Jung appeared on a number of other TV shows including General Hospital (as Won Chu), Starsky and Hutch (as "Itchy" in the episode "Nightlight" (1976)), M*A*S*H (as the Korean Man), The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (as Kahuna), Manimal (as Tang), Magnum P.I. (as Yaikra), The A-Team (as Chi), Falcon Crest (as Chao-Li's cousin), The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (as Cho-Lin), Hunter (as the henchman "Mongol" who goes toe-to-toe against Fred Dryer), Riptide (as Kona, Al Leong's colleague), Joe Forrester, and The New Mike Hammer. He appeared in two episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman ("Chi of Steel" (1995) and "Illusions of Grandeur" (1994) - as "Jzuk-Mao"), in the pilot episode of Martial Law, "Shanghai Express" (1998) (as the villain Wen), as well as on Highway to Heaven (as Yoji), Burke's Law, Dear John and Tour of Duty.

Film

Jung acted in the films Surf Ninjas (as Leslie Nielsen's henchman, Manchu), in John Landis's first film, Kentucky Fried Movie (as the henchman Bulkus in the Enter the Dragon spoof segment entitled A Fistful of Yen), as The Wing Kong Hatchet Man in Big Trouble in Little China, as the Bonsai Club Manager in Showdown in Little Tokyo (speaking a line of dialogue in Japanese to stars Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee, making him one of the few actors to appear in movies or TV shows alongside both Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee), and also appeared in films such as Sam Raimi's Darkman (as the Chinese Warrior), The Shadow (as the Tibetan Kidnapper), American Yakuza (as The Big Yakuza), Beverly Hills Ninja (as the Fisherman), Corvette Summer (as the bouncer who roughs up Mark Hamill's character), and Longshot (as Odd Job).

Jung also acted in Asian American independent films such as Justin Lin's Finishing The Game (as Bob, the Nazi villain who faces off against Roger Fan's Breeze Loo) in the "Fists of Fuhrer" segment that was directed by Evan Jackson Leong and Juwan Chung's Baby (as the Restaurant Guy in a scene opposite David Huynh, who played the title character).

Jung also appears as himself, the narrator, in Timothy Tau's short documentary, Nathan Jung v. Bruce Lee, where he recounts the first time he met Bruce Lee (played by Jason Yee) on the set of the TV show Here Come the Brides in 1969 and with Allen Rowe portraying a younger version of him in narrative flashbacks.

Personal life

Jung was born in Bakersfield, California; he had two older brothers. He died in Los Angeles on April 24, 2021, at the age of 74, of a heart attack after treatment for lymphoma and a fall. His death was covered by outlets including Variety, Deadline Hollywood, SyFy Wire, the New York Daily News, Heavy.com, Daily Star Trek News, Comicbook.com, Outsider, AsAm News, iHorror, Giant Freakin Robot, The Independent and The Daily Express in the UK, News.com.au and Yahoo! Lifestyle in Australia, and The New Zealand Herald.

Selected filmography

Film

TV

External links

• atIMDb
• on Fandango