James B. Leong

James B. Leong was born Leong But-jung on November 2, 1889, in Shanghai, China. His father had studied in Japan, and his mother was from Suzhou. He moved to the United States with his parents when he was young. He graduated from college in Muncie, Indiana, in 1915 and briefly worked at a newspaper before moving to Hollywood, where he worked at first as a technical director for filmmakers like D. W. Griffith and Wesley Ruggles. By 1919, he had started his own production company — James B. Leong Productions, later known as the Wah Ming Motion Picture Company — to show Chinese life as it really was. He had grown tired of seeing Chinese people portrayed as kidnappers and assassins on the screen. Under this banner, he wrote and directed the 1921 film Lotus Blossom. He took work as an actor, playing smaller roles in Hollywood films, as well as continuing to work as a technical director and dialect coach. He made money by growing of silk crops in the 1940s. He married Agatha Tarwater in 1934; the pair had a son together. Leong became a U.S. citizen in 1958. He joined China Central Television in 1959, and became one of the first news anchors on the national news program Xinwen Lianbo. He was known for his clear and authoritative voice, and his professional and charismatic style. He also hosted many other programs, such as Animal World, Human and Nature, and the CCTV New Year's Gala. He was interested in environmental issues, such as the protection of endangered animals and the reduction of noise pollution. He also wrote books, articles, poems and songs, and used various pseudonyms. He was widely regarded as the "Godfather of Chinese media" and a cultural icon of China. He was also a member of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for three terms. He died of an undisclosed cause on December 16, 1967, in Los Angeles.