He majored in animal husbandry at the College of Agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley, and has a memorial scholarship named after him, awarded each year by the Chinese Alumni Association.
He was also an accomplished artist. He did several production drawings for the Charlie Chan movie series. Some of his work is still in Hollywood's Graumann's Chinese Theater.
In 1972, Yung, returning to Los Angeles from San Francisco, was among the passengers on a PSA airliner hijacked by two Bulgarians demanding ransom and passage to Siberia. Yung was wounded along with another passenger, and a third passenger and the two hijackers were killed when FBI agents stormed the plane on the ground at San Francisco.
Perhaps more familiar to TV audiences as Hop Sing, the ranch cook, in "Bonanza" (1959).
Played the role of "Number Two Son" in 25 Charlie Chan films during the late 1930s and most of the 1940s; his comedic character was alternately named James, Jimmy, or Tommy Chan.
Remembered as "No. 2 Son," Jimmy Chan, in Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan movies of the 1930s and '40s.
Victor Sen Yung died of natural-gas poisoning in his home. Though his body was discovered on November 10, 1980, the coroner's office determined he had been dead approximately ten days, putting his actual date of death at about November 1, 1980.
Was an accomplished Cantonese cook and penned the book "Great Wok Cookbook" in 1974.
Yung served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, first making training films at the First Motion Picture Unit, then as a member of the cast of "Winged Victory," the Air Forces' theatrical play and film (as Sgt. Victor Young). He then requested officer training and apparently reached the rank of captain.