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Burt Kwouk, veteran of the "Pink Panther" movies, dies at 85

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.

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