The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 213

Oriental Sleuth Misses the Villainy Of Earlier Parts XT LAJLXJU FREE ESTIMATES UP TO 50 MILES BALTO. CITY BALTO. COUNTY ANNE ARUNDEL CARROLL COUNTIES CZ333 llv (IvvW Sin i I li Just say charge it" I have deen deluged of late CIMIC 0 Anuirrr IIM1MHI I BATHROHMc ijjVij BEFORE HHK ca lp Mil. iail-M! plus installotion Basements FC1EE ESTIMATES call685-9056 SX STORM foundation 10x12 ROOM ADDITIONS know Khigh best from the movies, particularly the brutal Chinese torturer he played in "The Manchurian Candidate." On the stage, he was famous as the evil Shlink in the long-running Off-Broadway production of Brecht's "In the Jungle of Cities." TV addicts best know him as the wily Wu Fat, the nemesis of "Hawaii Five-O" and the only criminal who has continually escaped McGarrett. Actually, Khigh Dhiegh is only slightly Oriental "My mother was Chinese, Egyptian and Spanish; my father, Italian, Puerto Rican and Zulu," he said, "I am a mongrel." He grew up in New York, was a bookseller and a tobacconist, and served in the U.S.

Merchant Marine in World War II. He was co-starring on Broadway in "Time Limit" and came to Hollywood to make the film directed by Karl Maiden. What of the heroic mold of his new character Khan? Khigh said all he really knows about him is he is an investigator who lives in Chinatown I in San Francisco, that her-; has a background in law and international police work, such as Interpol, and his son is his assistant and his daughter, who is studying for her doctorate, provides him with university facilities. His only resemblance to such sleuths as Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto is "that he is Oriental and he's a family man." None the less, production has begun on the series.

As to its prospects, Khigh Dhiegh says: "It depends on the writing, the directing. It's like a meal. You can have good ingredients, but a shlock chef and you get a shlock meal. You can have an excellent chef and bad ingredients and you get a bad meal. "Those occasions," he said, spearing a sea cucumber with his chopsticks, "when you have marvelous ingredients and a marvelous chef are rare." by petitions from my children and their elementary school mates.

These began when they were appalled (with reason) by the cancellation of "Born Free." More came with the cancellations of "Sierra" and "Paper Moon" said my daughter, "they're canceling all the good But the petitions really hit the fan when CBS shot down "Planet of the Apes." I have one signed by some 50 protesters in the 8-to- 10-year-old range, some of whom added comments, including one by a youngster whose fervor outweighs his spelling: "CEAP IT ON!" -os However, because of the nonsense of the Nielsen ratings, the apes and their human pets and slaves are gone to be replaced February 7 by a detective series featuring a Chinese private eye named Khan. While I hold no brief for the apes, TV needs another detective like it needs an eighth head. But the actor playing Khan is someone who may be interesting to have around every week. He's Khigh Dhiegh (it rhymes with Heidi), the ominous villain and perpetrator of a thousand torturous and diabolical deeds, turned, at last, to the side of the law. "Politics," said Khigh Dhiegh with a shrug, "shape what we hiss and what we cheer.

"I can no longer be wicked now that our leaders go to Peking and find out the Chinese are not monsters. "I will miss villainy," he said. "The villain is the yeast that makes the play. People like villains, no matter how diabolical, how insidious, how evil. I would not like to suggest why, but a psychologist might explain." I should think people would HOME REPAIRS PANELING Perfect for old walls Area covered determines cost.

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