In 1965, Pat Li of East West Players explained why the company, which she and eight others had started that year in Los Angeles to promote substantive roles for Asian-American actors, was needed.

“You don’t know how tired you can get of always being Suzie Wong,” she said. “Or a houseboy.”

As if to prove the point, not long afterward, another East West founder, Soon-Tek Oh, landed one of his first television roles — as a houseboy.

It was in an episode of the science-fiction series “The Invaders.” In his scene, which lasted less than a minute, Mr. Oh’s job was to usher David Vincent, the show’s lead character, played by Roy Thinnes, into a meeting with some other white characters. Mr. Oh spoke 17 words.

It must have been the kind of part that irked him, and it certainly wasn’t the last such stereotypical role he played in a long career that included more than 100 TV and film appearances.