Robert Lee (British actor)

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.{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19840219-1.2.57.aspx|title=Friends told him to act|last=Ooi|first=Teresa|date=19 February 1984|newspaper=The Straits Times|page=15|access-date=8 March 2016|via=NewspaperSG}}

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• {{IMDb name|498111|Robert Lee}}

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Category:1913 births

Category:1986 deaths

Category:20th-century Chinese male actors

Category:20th-century British male actors

Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge

Category:British male film actors

Category:British male television actors

Category:Chinese emigrants to England

Category:Chinese male film actors

Category:Chinese male television actors

Category:Male actors from Tianjin

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