Burt Kwouk, best known for playing Cato Fong in the Pink Panther films, died on May 24, at the age of 85.

Even though he is most recognisable for his big-screen role as the manservant to Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau's in the popular Pink Panther films, Kwouk was also a familiar fixture on the small screen.

He was born in Manchester in 1930 but was raised in Shanghai, China, until he was 17, when he moved to the United States.

Kwouk has three James Bond credits to his name - appearing in Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice and the 1967 spoof Casino Royale. Kwouk said that he was persuaded to become an actor when a girlfriend "nagged me into it". He returned to Britain in 1954 and began pursuing a career in acting. His first role was in a film called Windom's Way and he then landed what is considered his big break in Inn Of The Sixth Happiness.

His biggest break came in 1964, when director Blake Edwards offered him the role of Kato (which was later spelled as Cato) in A Shot in the Dark (1964), a role he returned to in Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).