carol nash playing charlie chan. every morning he he had to put those eye pieces on and slant his eyelids. and he'd talk kind of funny like this. >> hunch not important. motive clue. things that count. >> reporter: for women there's the dragon lady as well as the docile lotus flower. and all the women are hypersexualized. all those kinds of stereotypes then become their perception of what an asian is like. >> reporter: these crude stereotypes persisted into the '80s and well beyond. in the 1986 movie "short circuit" actor fisher stevens plays a south asian engineer complete with brown face and an accent. >> come quick. danger. come on, you! >> reporter: stevens later said he regretted playing the role. >> what's happening, hot stuff? >> reporter: but perhaps the single most infamous and offensive role in the '80s depicting an asian was the character of long duck dong in the john hughes teen comedy "16 candles." >> oh, sexy girlfriend! banzai! >> reporter: the controversial role was played by theater actor gedi watana