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Robert Lee
Lee as Tarō Nagazumi in Mind Your Language
Born	Lee Ya Fu (1913-11-30)30 November 1913 Tianjin, Republic of China
Died	1 December 1986(1986-12-01) (aged 73) Hampstead, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1944–1986

Robert Ya Fu Lee (30 November 1913 – 1 December 1986) was a Chinese actor based in the United Kingdom.

Background

Born in Tianjin, he arrived in England as an international student, attaining a BA in history from Trinity College, Cambridge. He then worked at a Chinese restaurant and a Japanese restaurant before being encouraged by friends to become an actor in 1944. Lee played supporting roles in many films and television programmes throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and was frequently called upon whenever a production required an East Asian character. His film appearances include You Only Live Twice (1967) and Half Moon Street (1986), and his television appearances include The Avengers, The Chinese Detective and The Bill, but his best known role is as Tarō Nagazumi, the Japanese business executive and English language student, in the sitcom Mind Your Language from 1977 to 1979. He never married, citing marriage in a 1984 interview as "Too much responsibility", and lived in a flat in Hampstead, North London, where he died after two years of ill health on 1 December 1986, aged 73.

TV and filmography

References

1. Ooi, Teresa (19 February 1984). "Friends told him to act". The Straits Times. p. 15. Retrieved 8 March 2016 – via NewspaperSG.

External links

• Robert Lee at IMDb

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• 1913 births
• 1986 deaths
• 20th-century Chinese male actors
• 20th-century British male actors
• Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
• British male film actors
• British male television actors
• Chinese emigrants to England
• Chinese male film actors
• Chinese male television actors
• Male actors from Tianjin
• BBC Television biography stubs