Sessue Hayakawa(1886-1973)
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sessue Hayakawa was born in Chiba, Japan. His father
was the provincial governor and his mother a member of an aristocratic
family of the "samurai" class. The young Hayakawa wanted to follow in
his father's footsteps and become a career officer in the Japanese
navy, but he was turned down due to problems with his hearing. The disappointed Hayakawa decided to make his career on the stage. He
joined a Japanese theatrical company that eventually toured the United
States in 1913. Pioneering film producer
Thomas H. Ince spotted him and
offered him a movie contract. Roles in
The Wrath of the Gods (1914)
and The Typhoon (1914) turned
Hayakawa into an overnight success. The first Asian-American star of
the American screen was born.
He married actress Tsuru Aoki on May 1, 1914.
The next year his appearance in
Cecil B. DeMille's sexploitation
picture The Cheat (1915) made Hayakawa
a silent-screen superstar. He played an ivory merchant who has an
affair with the Caucasian Fannie Ward, and
audiences were "scandalized" when he branded her as a symbol of her
submission to their passion. The movie was a blockbuster for Famous
Players-Lasky (later Paramount), turning Hayakawa into a romantic idol
for millions of American women, regardless of their race. However, there
were objections and outrage from racists of all stripes, especially
those who were opposed to miscegenation (sexual contact between those
of different races). Also outraged was the Japanese-American community,
which was dismayed by DeMille's unsympathetic portrayal of a member of
their race. The Japanese-American community protested the film and
attempted to have it banned when it was re-released in 1918.
The popularity of Hayakawa rivaled that of Caucasian male movie stars
in the decade of the 1910s, and he became one of the highest-paid
actors in Hollywood. He made his career in melodramas, playing
romantic heroes and charismatic heavies. He co-starred with the biggest
female stars in Hollywood, all of whom were, of course, Caucasian. His
pictures often co-starred Jack Holt as
his Caucasian rival for the love of the white heroine (Holt would later
become a top action star in the 1920s),
Hayakawa left Famous Players-Lasky to go independent, setting up his
own production company, Haworth Pictures Corp. Through the end of the
decade Haworth produced Asian-themed films starring Hayakawa
and wife Tsuru Aoki that proved very popular. These movies elucidated
the immigrant's desire to "cross over" or assimilate into society at
large and pursue the "American Dream" in a society free of racial
intolerance. Sadly, most of these films are now lost.
With the dawn of a new decade came a rise in anti-Asian sentiment,
particularly over the issue of immigration due to the post-World War I
economic slump. Hayakawa's films began to perform poorly at the box
office, bringing his first American movie career to an end in 1922. He
moved to Japan but was unable to get a career going. Relocating to France,
he starred in La bataille (1923), a
popular melodrama spiced with martial arts. He made
Sen Yan's Devotion (1924) and
The Great Prince Shan (1924)
in the UK.
In 1931 Hayakawa returned to Hollywood to make his talking-picture
debut in support of Anna May Wong
in
Daughter of the Dragon (1931).
Sound revealed that he had a heavy accent, and his acting got poor
reviews. He returned to Japan before once again going to France, where
he made the geisha melodrama
Yoshiwara (1937) for director
Max Ophüls. He also appeared in a remake of
"The Cheat" called Forfaiture (1937),
playing the same role that over 20 year earlier had made him one of the
biggest stars in the world.
After the Second World War he took a third stab at Hollywood. In 1949
he relaunched g himself as a character actor with
Tokyo Joe (1949) in support of
Humphrey Bogart, and
Three Came Home (1950) with
Claudette Colbert. Hayakawa reached
the apex of this, his third career, with his role as the martinet POW
camp commandant in
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),
which brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Suporting Actor.
His performance as Col. Saito was essential to the success of
David Lean's film, built as it was
around the battle of wills between Hayakawa's commandant and
Alec Guinness' Col. Nicholson, head of the
Allied POWs. The film won the Best Picture Academy Award, while Lean
and Guiness also were rewarded with Oscars.
Hayakawa continued to act in movies regularly until his retirement in
1966. He returned to Japan, becoming a Zen Buddhist priest while
remaining involved in his craft by giving private acting lessons.
Ninety years after achieving stardom, he remains one of the
few Asians to assume superstar status in American motion pictures.
was the provincial governor and his mother a member of an aristocratic
family of the "samurai" class. The young Hayakawa wanted to follow in
his father's footsteps and become a career officer in the Japanese
navy, but he was turned down due to problems with his hearing. The disappointed Hayakawa decided to make his career on the stage. He
joined a Japanese theatrical company that eventually toured the United
States in 1913. Pioneering film producer
Thomas H. Ince spotted him and
offered him a movie contract. Roles in
The Wrath of the Gods (1914)
and The Typhoon (1914) turned
Hayakawa into an overnight success. The first Asian-American star of
the American screen was born.
He married actress Tsuru Aoki on May 1, 1914.
The next year his appearance in
Cecil B. DeMille's sexploitation
picture The Cheat (1915) made Hayakawa
a silent-screen superstar. He played an ivory merchant who has an
affair with the Caucasian Fannie Ward, and
audiences were "scandalized" when he branded her as a symbol of her
submission to their passion. The movie was a blockbuster for Famous
Players-Lasky (later Paramount), turning Hayakawa into a romantic idol
for millions of American women, regardless of their race. However, there
were objections and outrage from racists of all stripes, especially
those who were opposed to miscegenation (sexual contact between those
of different races). Also outraged was the Japanese-American community,
which was dismayed by DeMille's unsympathetic portrayal of a member of
their race. The Japanese-American community protested the film and
attempted to have it banned when it was re-released in 1918.
The popularity of Hayakawa rivaled that of Caucasian male movie stars
in the decade of the 1910s, and he became one of the highest-paid
actors in Hollywood. He made his career in melodramas, playing
romantic heroes and charismatic heavies. He co-starred with the biggest
female stars in Hollywood, all of whom were, of course, Caucasian. His
pictures often co-starred Jack Holt as
his Caucasian rival for the love of the white heroine (Holt would later
become a top action star in the 1920s),
Hayakawa left Famous Players-Lasky to go independent, setting up his
own production company, Haworth Pictures Corp. Through the end of the
decade Haworth produced Asian-themed films starring Hayakawa
and wife Tsuru Aoki that proved very popular. These movies elucidated
the immigrant's desire to "cross over" or assimilate into society at
large and pursue the "American Dream" in a society free of racial
intolerance. Sadly, most of these films are now lost.
With the dawn of a new decade came a rise in anti-Asian sentiment,
particularly over the issue of immigration due to the post-World War I
economic slump. Hayakawa's films began to perform poorly at the box
office, bringing his first American movie career to an end in 1922. He
moved to Japan but was unable to get a career going. Relocating to France,
he starred in La bataille (1923), a
popular melodrama spiced with martial arts. He made
Sen Yan's Devotion (1924) and
The Great Prince Shan (1924)
in the UK.
In 1931 Hayakawa returned to Hollywood to make his talking-picture
debut in support of Anna May Wong
in
Daughter of the Dragon (1931).
Sound revealed that he had a heavy accent, and his acting got poor
reviews. He returned to Japan before once again going to France, where
he made the geisha melodrama
Yoshiwara (1937) for director
Max Ophüls. He also appeared in a remake of
"The Cheat" called Forfaiture (1937),
playing the same role that over 20 year earlier had made him one of the
biggest stars in the world.
After the Second World War he took a third stab at Hollywood. In 1949
he relaunched g himself as a character actor with
Tokyo Joe (1949) in support of
Humphrey Bogart, and
Three Came Home (1950) with
Claudette Colbert. Hayakawa reached
the apex of this, his third career, with his role as the martinet POW
camp commandant in
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),
which brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Suporting Actor.
His performance as Col. Saito was essential to the success of
David Lean's film, built as it was
around the battle of wills between Hayakawa's commandant and
Alec Guinness' Col. Nicholson, head of the
Allied POWs. The film won the Best Picture Academy Award, while Lean
and Guiness also were rewarded with Oscars.
Hayakawa continued to act in movies regularly until his retirement in
1966. He returned to Japan, becoming a Zen Buddhist priest while
remaining involved in his craft by giving private acting lessons.
Ninety years after achieving stardom, he remains one of the
few Asians to assume superstar status in American motion pictures.