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Clyde Kusatsu

Diminutive, balding, Asian-American character actor who, despite making his TV debut on the aggressively mystical "Kung Fu" series, has beautifully managed to avoid or transcend that quality of inscrutability stereotypically associated with so many Far Eastern acting roles. Born in Hawaii, Kusatsu began in Honolulu summer stock and, after studying theater at Northwestern, started to make his mark on the small screen in the mid-1970s. Usually mustachioed, with a dapper, professional air, he has most often played doctors, but his repertoire has included a generous sampling of teachers (usually college professors), businessmen, detectives, church ministers and other intelligent, middle-class types. With his quiet, wry line delivery, Kusatsu made a memorably clever and hilarious sparring partner for no less than Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) on several episodes of "All in the Family" as the Reverend Chong, refusing to baptize Archie's grandson without the permission of the boy's parents.