Johnny Yune


Johnny Yune was a Korean-American actor, singer, and comedian.
He played the lead in the 1980s films They Call Me Bruce? and They Still Call Me Bruce. Yune's big break came at The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Yune stated that because actor Charlton Heston did not arrive on time, he was given over twenty minutes on the show to make a good impression. He sang "O sole Mio" in the show, surprised everyone on the show including Carson. Carson liked Yune and had him on the show over 30 times. Yune also appeared in his own special on NBC.

Early life

Johnny Yune was born 1936 in Eumseong County, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, South Korea. His Korean first name was Jong-seung, and was Anglicized to 'John' from its phonetic similarity when he became a US citizen in 1978. He graduated from Sungdong High School in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, and came to Massachusetts, U.S., as well as studying vocal music at Ohio Wesleyan University on an ROK Navy scholarship in 1962.

Career

in 1964, Yune practiced his stand-up routine in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City. In 1977, Yune was discovered at a Santa Monica comedy club by comedian Johnny Carson and was invited onto his talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Yune was the first guest of Asian descent and made 34 appearances between the 1970s and 1980s, one of the most appearances by a stand-up comedian.
He played a Mongolian under the name of "Jon Yune" in the 1979 movie Meteor, also did work as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s.
Yune performed at the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul, along with Bob Hope and Brooke Shields.
From 1989 to 1990, he hosted The Johnny Yune Show, the first Americanized talk show in Korea. Singer Jo Young-nam was a co-MC. The show was a great hit, but only after a year, Yune decided to leave KBS due to limited freedom of the media.

Politics

Yune was an alternate delegate at the 1988 Republican National Convention, where he sang the US National Anthem on August 16, 1988.
He was appointed the auditor for the Korea Tourism Organization in 2014 by the Park Geun-hye administration. His appointment was met with controversy, as his critics have called into question his lack of business experience and close ties to the then president. He served the role for two years.

Personal life

He married a Korean-American named Julia Yune in 1999 and later divorced in 2010.
Yune regained his Korean citizenship, becoming a dual citizen, in 2013.
Yune was diagnosed with dementia in 2017. He died in Southern California on March 8, 2020 at the age of 83.

Filmography