A smooth, charming, cosmopolitan chap who never took himself too seriously. His tussles with Peter Sellers were the best bits of Pink Panther
Fare Thee Well Burt Kwouk
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
He was the first famous person I saw in the street when I moved to London. West End Lane, West Hampstead. Also saw Don Powell going to the launderette, Leslie Caron coming out of the supermarket near where the buses turned round, and the woman with the small head who plays Gail in Coronation Street.
Ah, the glamour of London. Staying in the east end over the weekend we saw Gilbert and George (hardly a surprise as our hotel was at the end of Fournier Street where they live and work), and John Lloyd, producer of Blackadder, Spitting Image, NTNOCN, QI and more walking past with a fag on (even less of a surprise as he was walking past Broadcasting House where we had gone to see a recording of The Museum of Curiosity, which Lloyd hosts).
And co-author of The Meaning of Liff, still one of the great “smallest room” books.
That clip above is tremendously funny.
Another living legend gone.
In the best Afterword tradition of odd or mundane meetings with semi-famous people, I met Burt once. Back in 1994, when I was a young reporter on a local paper, I was sent to cover the launch of The Natural Law Party’s European election campaign. (These were the days when journalists were sometimes allowed out of the office). The deeply weird afternoon ended with me going for a hot air balloon ride with Burt Kwouk. No yogic flying was involved.
He seemed a really lovely chap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438UKM1Av1g
As Northcote says above, he was a regular around West Hampstead and used to see him frequently about the place. Fortunately I resisted the temptation to act stupidly in his presence.
It would be nice if Peter Sellers ambushed him as soon as he goes through the Pearly Gates.
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We had a memorial dinner for an actor friend of mine a couple of decades ago. There were many tributes paid. Burt received the biggest roar of the night. Not for what he said, but for the the way he ended his brief speech. He stepped back from the mic and threw a variety of ‘Cato’ shapes and proceeded to karate chop and kick his way offstage. Great fun.