TV shows Kung Fu | Name Radames Pera Parents Lisa Pera Years active 1972 – mid 1980s Spouse Marsha Mann (m. 1984) | |
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Similar People Keye Luke, David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Stephen Manley | ||
Education Los Angeles City College | ||
PART SEVEN One on One with Radames Pera
Radames Perá (born September 14, 1960) is an American former actor best known for his role as "Grasshopper" the student Kwai Chang Caine in the 1972–1975 television series Kung Fu. He is the only living regular cast member from the show.
Contents
- PART SEVEN One on One with Radames Pera
- Youg grasshopper radames pera interview with torchy smith promo
- Early life and acting career
- Post acting career
- Filmography
- References
Youg grasshopper radames pera interview with torchy smith promo
Early life and acting career
Pera was born in New York City, New York, the son of actress Lisa Pera. His mother moved to Hollywood in 1963 so that she could pursue an acting career.
From 1972 until 1975, Radames appeared as the young Kwai Chang Caine in the ABC television series Kung Fu. Caine was an orphan from Hunan Province in China who had an American father and a Chinese mother. He appeared throughout the 4-year run show on ABC and worldwide re-runs. For the role of Caine, Radames had to shave his head other than the pilot movie where he was initially shown with hair before scenes showing his head being shaved. He appeared bald in all other episodes. In the series he mainly worked with veteran Asian-American actors Philip Ahn (Master Kan), Keye Luke (blind Master Po, who called him "Grasshopper") and Richard Loo (Master Sun), and was mostly shown living in a Shaolin Monastery where he was taught by the monks to be a Shaolin master. He is depicted as the first person to be welcomed into a Shaolin Monastery who was not of full Chinese birth. The main role of Kwai Chang Caine as an adult was played by David Carradine.
Radames also had a recurring role on Little House on the Prairie as John (Jr.), eldest adopted son of Mr. Edwards, and became Mary Ingalls' love interest during the show's first three seasons.
At age eight, Radames was asked by director Daniel Mann to play the role of Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas' dying son in the film A Dream of Kings (1969). He met the director at a dinner party and was eventually cast in the role of Stavros.
Pera's other acting roles include a disturbed pre-teen in an episode of Night Gallery, Silent Snow, Secret Snow, narrated by Orson Welles, and guest appearances on The Six Million Dollar Man, as Don Ameche's son in the episode Gidget Gets Married. Between 1969 and 1985 other guest-starring credits include two episodes of Lassie, Marcus Welby, M.D., the single episodes of Family Affair, Hawaii Five-O, and The Waltons among many others.
Radames dropped out of the acting business entirely after 1987. His final television appearances were in the episodes of Mickey Spillane's The New Mike Hammer, and Starman. His last film role of the 20th century was as a Soviet soldier, Sgt. Stepan Gorsky in John Milius' Red Dawn (1984).
Post-acting career
Pera developed other interests in video and electronics and eventually formed his own company, All Systems Go! in L.A. in 1988, designing and installing home theaters and residential sound systems. He now specializes in eliminating remote control clutter and other AV and WiFi solutions at his San Diego based company.