'Hawaii Five-O' co-star Kam Fong dead at 84

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Kam Fong Chun, the man TV viewers around the world knew as Detective Chin Ho Kelly in the hit crime series Hawaii Five-O, died in Honolulu after a long fight against cancer, his family said Wednesday. He was 84.

Chun, who died Oct. 18, suffered from inoperable lung cancer, said his elder son, Dennis Chun. Family members did not announce the actor's death until Wednesday because they said they wanted some private time after having shared him with the public for so many years.

Working under the stage name Kam Fong, the Honolulu native appeared on Hawaii Five-O from its debut in 1968 to 1978, two years before the series was canceled. He was the trusted, tough detective working alongside the show's main character, Steve McGarrett, who was played by Jack Lord. Lord died in January 1998.

"Like his character, our father faced his last battle with courage, determination and a deep faith in God," Dennis Chun said of his father. "There is no need to feel sorry either for us or our dad. He had a good long life."

Kam Fong Chun was a real-life Honolulu Police Department officer for 16 years before leaving the force in 1959 to put more time into acting. To help pay the bills, he ran a real estate business and talent agency before joining the CBS-TV crime drama.

His son said that adversity early in life shaped his father. In June 1944, the actor's first wife and two young children were killed when a pair of military bombers collided above Honolulu and crashed into their home below.

"Twelve people were killed and my father had to carry his daughter from the house," he said.

Kam Fong Chun said in a 1977 interview that he left the show because he felt the scripts were stale. The show's writers killed off his character. In that episode, his character's dying words were: "It was all worth it."

"We think those words sum up our father's life," Dennis Chun said. "It was a life that was worth it. A life that mattered."