Genius In Motion

Sayonara, Hollywood! A Salute to Miyoshi Umeki, Singer and Actress (1929 – 2007)

A Japanese native, Miyoshi Umeki was a singer and actress in Hollywood for almost 20 years.  Esther Rolle had a 53-year career in show business.  Though her parents didn’t approve of western culture, Miyoshi influences included the likes of Doris Day and Peggy Lee, whom she imitated in secret.  She also heavily inspired by Kabuki Theater.  Early on in her career in Japan, Miyoshi performed under the name “Nancy Umeki” singing American standards in nightclubs.  She soon moved to the U.S. and became a naturalized citizen in 1955 and became a mainstay in the entertainment industry. 
 
The American music and film industry was introduced to  Miyoshi during her stint on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts.  Miyoshi landed a record deal with Mercury Records and was noticed by “Sayonara” film director Joshua Logan, who immediately cast her in the film.  Miyoshi played opposite Red Buttons, who portrayed a sergeant in the Air Force, as his wife.  Their marriage is doomed, as interracial unions were frowned on by society at the time, and leads to his persecution and invariably results in their double-suicide. Her portrayal garnered Miyoshi an Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress (Red Button also won for Best Supporting Actor).  She was the first and continues to be the only Asian to win an Oscar in the Acting category.    
 
Miyoshi went on to receive a Tony, as well for her portrayal of “Mei Li” in the Rodgers and Hammerstein production of “Flower Drum Song” in 1958.  The back-to-back wins for Ms. Umeki were unprecedented in the Asian American community.  “The warmth of her art works a kind of tranquil magic, and the whole theater relaxes” boasted a cover story by Time Magazine (Washington Post, September 2007).  The same year as her Tony win, she married TV director Wynn Opie, which ended in divorce 9 years later. During this marriage, Umeki appeared in several films with the same “East-meets-West” themes.
 
Two years after her divorce, she turned her talents to the small screen in television show “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, where she played “Mrs. Livingston” the housekeeper for three years on ABC.  She also re-married during this time to Randall Hood and adopted a son who they named Michael.  After her run on “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”, she retired her on-screen career and operated an LA-based editing equipment rental house, whose clients were film studios and universities.  She eventually retired and joined her son in Missouri where she died from complications related to Cancer in 2007 at the age of 78 (Wikipedia).
 
Genius In Motion salutes Miyoshi Umeki’s work in the entertainment industry and for being a pioneer for Asian-Americans in film, music and television.
 
Check out videos of Miyoshi in our videos section!

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