Victor Sen Yung: Hop Sing on "Bonanza"

Victor Sen Young went by many other names also: Sen Young, Victor Young, and Sen Yung. But whatever you call him, he is best known for playing the cook, Hop Sing, on the hit television series Bonanza.

He worked for a chemical company (he majored in animal husbandry at the University of California, Berkley) and when he went to the 20th Century Fox studio to try to sell them a new flame retardant instead of leaving with a sale, he let with a new job. During the visit there they had given him a screen test and offered him a part in the 1038 film Charlie Chan in Honolulu. His role was that of "number two son" Jimmy Chan. He went on to appear i eleven Charlie Chan films between the years 1938 and 1942.

Like many other Chinese-American actors he was in many World War Two movies. In 1942 he was in Across the Pacific which starred Humphrey Bogart.

Sen Young joined the United States Army Air Force and helped make training films at the First Motion Picture Unit and had a part in the Army Air Force's film Winged Victory.

After the war was over he went back to Hollywood and starred in five more Charlie Chan movies.

Victor Sen Young played many bit parts in television shows in stereotyped roles. He played the cook Hop Sing on Bonanza for fourteen years. After Bonanza ended he went on to appear in The Red Pony, Kung Fu, and The Man with Bogart's Face.

He played a cook on television but was also a good cook in real life. In 1074 he wrote The Great Wok Cookbook.

In 1972 he was a passenger on PSA airlines plane during a hijack attempt. Sen Young was accidentally shot in the back by the FBI when they tried to subdue the hijackers. Sen Young and one other passenger, who was also injured, survived, but the two hijackers and one other passenger died during that incident.

When acting roles were not available, Victor Sen Young sold cookware. In 1980 while the actor was in his townhouse making clay ware and curing it in his kitchen oven he was overcome by carbon monoxide and died.

The Chinese Alumni Association of the University of California, Berkley (his alma mater) has a memorial scholarship named after him.

Pernell Roberts, who played Adam Cartwright on Bonanza, gave the eulogy at Victor Sen Young's funeral.

Although Victor Sen Young had a long list of movie and television credits to his name, they were, for the most part, small bit parts that paid very little. At the time of his death he was penniless.