FILE - In this file photo dated Feb. 24, 2011, Burt Kwouk, poses after being presented with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) award in London. The actor best known for playing Inspector Clouseau's manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films, has died aged 85, his agent said, Tuesday May 24, 2016, issuing the statement "Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away 24th May." (John Stillwell / Pool via AP, FILE)
FILE - In this file photo dated April 29, 2001, Burt Kwouk, in London, best known for playing Inspector Clouseau’s manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films, who has died aged 85, his agent said, Tuesday May 24, 2016. A statement Tuesday said “Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away 24th May.” (Michael Crabtree / PA via AP, FILE) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES
LONDON — Burt Kwouk, who played martial arts expert Cato in the comic “Pink Panther” films, has died. He was 85.
Kwouk’s agent, Jean Diamond, said in a statement that he “passed peacefully” on Tuesday. She didn’t give a cause of death.
Born in northwest England and raised in Shanghai, Kwouk had his breakthrough film role in “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” in 1958, and appeared in the James Bond films “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice.”
In 1964, Blake Edwards cast him in “A Shot in the Dark,” a comedy centered on Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau. Kwouk appeared in half a dozen more “Pink Panther” movies as Cato Fong, a manservant whose job was to attack Clouseau when he least expected it.
Diamond said Kwouk’s funeral would be private.
