the magnificent mako ...the east/west player (H in H pt 2c)
mako was born in japan, but came to new york at 15, schooled here, and became citizen at 23. the founder of EAST WEST PLAYERS, an asian american theatre in l.a. he was nominated for a Tony in his Broadway debut in 1976 in "Pacific Overtures."
altho he was born and raised for a time in japan, he spoke fluent english.....but it was distinctively accented.
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from his IMDB bio:
Mako was not only a great actor, he was determined to let people know that Asian-American actors are just as good as the traditional "White" actors we have today. He made his whole life about acting...
"Of course we've been fighting against stereotypes from day one at East West Players. That's the reason we formed it....to combat that, and to show we are capable of more than just fulfilling the stereotypes -- waiter, laundryman, gardener, martial artist, villain."
He passed away on July 21, 2006 at the age of 72 ...He continued acting until a few months before his death, and was probably one of the best-known Asian-American actors to grace movies and TVs.
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MAKO worked STEADILY from the 1960's on t.v shows (mcHales navy, big valley, you name the t.v. show...he had the "asian role"....up to 2005 series, monk and the west wing). he had an equally broad mix in movies, from conan the barbarian, to robocop to seven years in tibet and more recently, memoirs of a geisha. from stage, to voice overs...there was little that mako did NOT do. however, ironically, his roles were almost always 'token'....the very thing he worked to fight against.
(he usually had the fierce, powerful, type of role)
while james shigeta was the 'go to' MOVIE STAR image for an asian male in the 60's, (james had a VERY different
image in casting) mako was THE 'go to' GUY in general, for asian males. the contrast is actually quite stark, between the two actors, as evidenced by their imdb resume (AND STARMETERS).
(the 'industry' barometer of each actor is truly best calculated by this ranking.)
mako and shigeta would be an interesting 'study' to illustrate the points.
the starmeter only goes back to 1998, but shigeta's starmeter has always hovered in the 9-10,000 range. james is still alive, but has not really worked actively since the late 90's early 2000. (was in BROTHERS with "beat" takeshi). yet his starmeter ranking is quite low. 11,063 today.
mako, on the other hand, worked non stop up until his death (he actually was going to do a role, but died before filming). HIS starmeter averaged in the 2-3000 range. altho he died almost a year ago, his current ranking is
1531.
this clip is from one of his movies from the 1970's (with james caan)....he does not appear until the 3 minute mark, (black turtleneck, beard, moustache) but you will get a feel for the type of characters he played. and michi san...i thought of you when i found this....so funny....(hint: "i'm a ninja"). :) (mako is NOT the ninja).
i'll end this with one of mako's own quotes:
One of the barriers that Asian-American actors have to face in Hollywood: "I go into a young film director's office these days and he says, 'Hey man, I know who you are. I grew up watching McHale's Navy'. And I think, 'Oh boy, here we go again'...."
