 Chung Ling Soo was a stage character created by a Caucasian American  man, William Ellsworth Robinson, who disguised himself as a Chinese  man to cash in on audiences enthusiasm for the exotic. Robinson  lived as Chung, never breaking character while in public. He died in  March 1918 when a bullet catch trick went wrong. "My God, Ive been  shot" were both his last words and the first English he had spoken  on stage in 19 years.