Khigh Alx Dhiegh ( or ; born Kenneth Dickerson; August 25, 1910 – October 25, 1991) Includes short biographical summary of Khigh Dhiegh. was an American television and motion picture actor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudanese ancestry, noted for portraying East Asian roles. He is perhaps best remembered for portraying villains, in particular his recurring TV guest role as Chinese agent
Wo Fat
Wo Fat (Chinese: 禾发) is the name of a fictional villain in the CBS series ''Hawaii Five-O.'' On the show, Wo Fat is the nemesis of Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord and Alex O'Loughlin), the head of Hawaii's (fictional) special task force, Five-O.
Th ...
on '' Hawaii Five-O'' (from the pilot in 1968 to the final episode in 1980), and
brainwashing
Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwash ...
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
's '' Design for Living'', which led to his long career in acting, producing, and directing.
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
in 1961 for playing Schlink in '' In the Jungle of Cities''.
He also starred in the short-lived 1975 TV series ''
Khan!
''Khan!'' is an American television detective series. Set in Chinatown, San Francisco, the titular character is a Chinese-American detective, played by Khigh Dhiegh. Khan's police contact was Lt. Gubbins, played by Vic Tayback. Series regular ...
'' as the title character. In 1988, he was featured as
Four Finger Wu
''Noble House'' is a novel by James Clavell, published in 1981 and set in Hong Kong in 1963. It is the fourth book published in Clavell's '' Asian Saga'' and is chronologically the fifth book in the series. The "Noble House" in the title is the ...
in
James Clavell
James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...
's '' Noble House'' television mini-series.
In 1965, Dhiegh recorded and released an album on
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.
History
The Folkways Records & Service ...
, entitled ''St. John of the Cross: Volume II,'' a collection of poems of St. John.
Philosophy
Besides his acting endeavors, Dhiegh was active in Taoist philosophy, writing a number of books on the subject, including ''The Eleventh Wing'' (). Dhiegh credited his "life long dear friend Chao-Li Chi" with sparking his interest in the
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
and Taoism, starting in 1935. In 1971, he founded the Taoist Sanctuary (now the Taoist Institute) in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
.
Dhiegh also had a doctorate in theology, and in his later years, was the rector for a Taoist sanctuary in Tempe, Arizona called 'Inner Truth Looking Place.' He held weekly services and sponsored many 'Tea Ceremonies' in the Phoenix metro area. Dhiegh picked up jewelry making as a hobby in the 1970s, later selling pieces to help support the sanctuary. One of his last interviews was on One World in 1990, where he presented the concept of World Citizenry and its benefit to mankind. Dhiegh's contributions to Taoism are discussed in some detail in the book ''Taoism for Dummies ''(John Wiley and Sons Canada, 2013).