James Shigeta

"James Shigeta, who has died aged 85, was one of the very few Asian-American actors to have played big parts in Hollywood films. Born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry, Shigeta broke through the barrier to screen stardom, bringing dignity and stature to his roles. Handsome and charismatic, with a rich singing and speaking baritone voice, Shigeta was cast in several films in which he was the equal of his co-stars, sometimes being permitted to have inter-racial screen romances, despite what amounted to a tacit prohibition in Hollywood.
Shigeta's breakthrough gradually helped to prevent the practice of actors such as Marlon Brando, Alec Guinness and Mickey Rooney playing Japanese characters with embarrassingly crude results. However, as was the Hollywood custom, Shigeta, often elevating poor material, was called upon to play Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Polynesian characters, with the assumption being that audiences could not tell the difference.
One of six children, he was born in Honolulu. His father was a plumber. Shigeta conceived the ambition to become a singer after winning a talent competition on Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour. After singing in nightclubs in the US under the name Guy Brion, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps during the Korean war and served for two and a half years, singing for the troops and rising to the rank of staff sergeant."
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/31/james-shigeta

 

thanks , Gordan, being born in 1940 I grew up watching Mr. Shigeta in numerous movies, a versatile and talented actor.

Gaines

 

I recognized him more readily from the photo on his IMDb page. He also played Vice Admiral Nagumo in the WWII film, Midway.