Biografie

His last words to Hal Linden as he was being wheeled into the operating room before his death were "It must have been the coffee." This was a reference to the running gag of his character Nick Yemana from Barney Miller (1975) having the reputation for making horrible coffee.

Was interned in a camp for Japanese-Americans in Utah during WWII. He got out by enlisting in the US Army, and was assigned to the famous Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT)--the most decorated unit in the US Army--and fought in Italy.

When he got out of the army after World War II, he began a career as a singer. However, knowing that audiences would never accept him if he used his real Japanese name of Goro Suzuki, he changed it to the Chinese-sounding Jack Soo and billed himself as "The Chinese Bing Crosby".

The cast of Barney Miller (1975) stepped out of character on a retrospective episode that aired in May of 1979 to offer a tribute to Jack, who had died a few months earlier during the show's fifth season. The episode recalled some of his best moments on the show.

In the late 1940s he had a nightclub comedy act with Joey Bishop.