bruce lee played kato in the green hornet tv series.
bruce lee played kato in the green hornet tv series.
who played kato in the green hornet tv series?
bruce lee
despite character co-creator george w. trendle's failed efforts to generate interest in a green hornet tv series in 1951 and 1958, the success of abc's 1960s "batman" series prompted the network to adapt the venerable radio and movie-serial character. the series starred van williams as the green hornet and introduced martial artist bruce lee to american television audiences as his partner, kato. unlike the campy and humorous "batman" series, "the green hornet" was played straight. though it was canceled after one season, lee became a major star of martial arts movies. lee's popularity in hong kong, where he was raised, was such that the show was marketed there as "the kato show." the green hornet and kato also appeared in two episodes of "batman" titled "a piece of the action/batman's satisfaction," with reid mentioning that he and bruce wayne had been acquaintances and rivals since childhood. though other characters in the story were all led to believe wrongly that the green hornet and kato were villains, as on "the green hornet: the series," roger c. carmel acted out the show's real villain, who called himself colonel gumm.
the green hornet (tv series)
"the green hornet" was adapted into two movie serials, 1940's "the green hornet" and, in 1941, "the green hornet strikes again!" disliking the treatment republic gave "the lone ranger" in two serials, george w. trendle took his property to universal pictures, and was much happier with the results. the first serial, titled simply "the green hornet" (1940), starred gordon jones in the title role, albeit dubbed by original radio hornet al hodge whenever the hero's mask was in place, while "the green hornet strikes again!" (1941) starred warren hull. keye luke, who played the "number one son" in the charlie chan films, played kato in both. also starring in both serials were anne nagel as lenore case, britt reid's secretary, and wade boteler as mike axford, a reporter for the "daily sentinel," the newspaper that reid owned and published. ford beebe directed both serials, partnered by ray taylor on "the green hornet" and john rawlins on "the green hornet strikes again!", with george h. plympton and basil dickey contributing to the screenplays for both serials. "the green hornet" ran for 13 chapters while "the green hornet strikes again!" had 15 installments, with the hornet and kato smashing a different racket in each chapter. in each serial, they were all linked to a single major crime syndicate which was itself put out of business in the finale, while the radio program had the various rackets completely independent of each other.
green hornet