The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is the most contentious of the first three "Indiana Jones" movies. Director Steven Spielberg's filmmaking instincts are sharp as ever, as is Harrison Ford's charisma, and even before the mine tunnel sequence, the film moves like a roller coaster in the best way possible.

But in aping early 20th-century pulp, the film inherits their exoticized distortions of non-American cultures. "Temple of Doom" is mostly set in British-occupied India, but the villains are not these colonizers. No, Indy and co. face off against an indigenous threat: the vicious Thuggee cult that enslaves children and makes human sacrifices to the Hindu god Kali. I'm admittedly not an expert on Indian culture (nor were the writers of the movie), so I'll defer to one who is; Indian-Canadian writer Saffron Maeve has taken the film to task over at Little White Lies. Otherwise, I'll let the fact that "Temple of Doom" was banned from screening in India speak for itself.

I think "Temple of Doom" is a fun time, but if you can't stomach the disgusting Orientalism, I get it. It celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024, so it's a good enough year as any to meditate on its tarnished legacy. Amazingly enough, despite this time-lapse, many of the films' stars are still with us.

Indiana Jones is like Allan Quatermain crossed with James Bond (there's a reason Sean Connery played Jones Sr. in "The Last Crusade"). So, in keeping with the Bond Girl tradition, Indy has a new love interest in each of the original three movies. "Temple of Doom" features easily the least popular of them: Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), a nightclub singer in Shanghai who gets, well, shanghaied onto the adventure. A finicky damsel in distress, Willie never feels like more than a brief fling for Indy (but you could argue she was meant to).

Willie is played by Kate Capshaw and "Temple of Doom" changed her life. Not because it was a breakout part, but because she met her future husband while making it. In 1991, she became Kate Spielberg; she and Steven have five children together.

Capshaw kept acting up through the 1990s, appearing in fantasy B-Movie "Dreamscape," Ridley Scott's cop + yakuza thriller "Black Rain," and the Sam Elliot western "The Quick and the Dead" (not to be confused with the Sam Raimi one). Since the 2000s, Capshaw has remained retired. These days, she's redirected her creative spirit towards painting.

When Indy and co. arrive in Pankot (the fictional Indian province where the Thuggees are secretly operating), they're greeted by the friendly face of Chattar Lal. Played by Roshan Seth, Lal serves as the Prime Minister to Pankot's child ruler, Maharajah Zalim Singh (played by Raj Singh, who these days works as a flight controller in Chicago). Unfortunately, Singh has been brainwashed by the Thuggees into a puppet ruler. Lal serves them too, though it's not clear if he was brainwashed like Singh or is a true believer.

Seth was born in British India himself in 1942 (five years before the imperialists vacated the country). He moved to England, graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and worked as an actor during the 1960s. Unfortunately, the racism he faced in getting parts sent him back home in the following decade. In India, he pivoted to working as a journalist, but his original vocation soon came calling.

In 1982, Seth starred in Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" as Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of post-British India. That role brought him to international attention and surely helped him be cast in "Temple of Doom." In the forty years since, he's continued to steadily work in American, British, and Indian film/TV.

Not everyone during the Shanghai opening is trying to kill Indy. His old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) does not appear in "The Temple of Doom," but filling a similar role as Indy's local backup is Wu Han (played by actor David Yip in his film debut). Disguised as a waiter, Han comes to Indy's aid during his stand-off with Lao Che, trying to get the poison antidote at gunpoint.

Unfortunately, Wu Han doesn't enjoy the same longevity as Sallah; distracted by a champagne bottling popping, he's gunned down by Chen and his last words are, "I've followed you on many adventures, but into the great unknown mystery, I go first, Indy!"

Mr. Yip, though, is still alive. He first came to prominence in 1981 starring in the BBC series "The Chinese Detective," and the year after "The Temple of Doom," he appeared in the James Bond movie "A View To Kill" as CIA agent Chuck Lee. He's continued working steadily to this day, but has enjoyed his most consistent work on TV (he played Chinese President Wei in "24: Live Another Day") and in British theatre.