Harry Agar Lyons (1 April 1878 â€" 1944) was an Irish-born British
actor. He is best known for playing Fu Manchu in a series of fifteen
silent films called The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu all filmed in 1923,
followed by a 1924 series of eight additional Fu Manchu films under
the title The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu. Lyons starred in the
title role of all 23 movies (which ran about 20 minutes each in
length), all of which featured Fu's ongoing battle with his two
British nemeses, Sir Nayland Smith (played by Fred Paul) and Dr.
Petrie. Both series were produced by Oswald Stoll (see List of Stoll
Pictures films), who had earlier produced a 1920 film version of Sax
Rohmer's 1915 "Yellow Peril" novel, The Yellow Claw.In spite of the
many films in which Lyons played an Oriental character, the obviously
British actor "put forth little effort to make himself seem anything
other than Caucasian". He later starred as Dr. Sin Fang, another Asian
character, in a low-budget 1928 six-picture film series produced by
Pioneer Productions. The Sin Fang films were produced and directed by
Fred Paul (who also co-starred in them as the regularly appearing
police lieutenant John Byrne) and were written by Patrick K. Heale.
The films co-starred Evelyn Arden as Byrne's girlfriend Betty and
Wally Patch as Byrne's sidekick Bill Riggers. Fred Paul (who directed
a number of the earlier Fu Manchu films) co-produced the 6 Sin Fang
films with A. M. Brooks, and created the Sin Fang character to be as
similar to Fu Manchu as he could possibly be, without their being sued
by Sax Rohmer for copyright infringement. Of the six Sin Fang films,
only the fifth one (The Torture Cage) still exists.Lyons' last two
films, the cheaply-made 1937 Dr. Sin Fang and the 1938 Chinatown
Nights, also both featured the Dr. Sin Fang character, but those were
produced by Victory Films and were not part of the 1928 series..Lyons
was born in Cork, Ireland and died in Wandsworth, London, England, UK
in 1944 at age 72.
actor. He is best known for playing Fu Manchu in a series of fifteen
silent films called The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu all filmed in 1923,
followed by a 1924 series of eight additional Fu Manchu films under
the title The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu. Lyons starred in the
title role of all 23 movies (which ran about 20 minutes each in
length), all of which featured Fu's ongoing battle with his two
British nemeses, Sir Nayland Smith (played by Fred Paul) and Dr.
Petrie. Both series were produced by Oswald Stoll (see List of Stoll
Pictures films), who had earlier produced a 1920 film version of Sax
Rohmer's 1915 "Yellow Peril" novel, The Yellow Claw.In spite of the
many films in which Lyons played an Oriental character, the obviously
British actor "put forth little effort to make himself seem anything
other than Caucasian". He later starred as Dr. Sin Fang, another Asian
character, in a low-budget 1928 six-picture film series produced by
Pioneer Productions. The Sin Fang films were produced and directed by
Fred Paul (who also co-starred in them as the regularly appearing
police lieutenant John Byrne) and were written by Patrick K. Heale.
The films co-starred Evelyn Arden as Byrne's girlfriend Betty and
Wally Patch as Byrne's sidekick Bill Riggers. Fred Paul (who directed
a number of the earlier Fu Manchu films) co-produced the 6 Sin Fang
films with A. M. Brooks, and created the Sin Fang character to be as
similar to Fu Manchu as he could possibly be, without their being sued
by Sax Rohmer for copyright infringement. Of the six Sin Fang films,
only the fifth one (The Torture Cage) still exists.Lyons' last two
films, the cheaply-made 1937 Dr. Sin Fang and the 1938 Chinatown
Nights, also both featured the Dr. Sin Fang character, but those were
produced by Victory Films and were not part of the 1928 series..Lyons
was born in Cork, Ireland and died in Wandsworth, London, England, UK
in 1944 at age 72.
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