Sessue Hayakawa

Kintaro Hayakawa (早川 金太郎 ; June 10, 1886 – November 23, 1973), known professionally as Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲), was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was one of the most popular stars in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe. His "broodingly handsome" good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood.

He made his breakthrough in The Cheat (1915), and thereafter became famous for his roles as a forbidden lover. Hayakawa was a highly paid star of his time, earning $3,500 a week in 1919 and $2 million through his own production company from 1918 to 1920. Because of rising anti-Japanese sentiment and business difficulties, Hayakawa left Hollywood in 1922 and performed on Broadway and in Japan and Europe for many years before making his Hollywood comeback in Daughter of the Dragon (1931).

Of his talkies, Hayakawa is probably best known for his role as Kuala, the pirate captain in Swiss Family Robinson (1960 film) and Colonel Saito in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Hayakawa starred in over 80 feature films, and three of his films (The Cheat, The Dragon Painter, and The Bridge on the River Kwai) stand in the United States National Film Registry.

Sessue Hayakawa's Argyle Castle; 1904 Argyle Avenue, Los Angeles

Sessue Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian American/Asian actors to find stardom in the United States and Europe and was also the first leading Asian male actor in the United States. He became the first male sex symbol of Hollywood long before and the precursor to Rudolph Valentino. His fame rivaled that of Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin. His fame began during the silent film era, leading into sound pictures in his later life. He became a film actor in a somewhat reluctant and accidental manner when the famous producer Thomas Ince saw his theatre play The Typhoon and wanted to turn it into a silent film and when it was released the film was an instant hit. With rising stardom he was eventually offered film contract by Famous Players-Lasky now Paramount Pictures. His second film with the production company, The Cheat (1915), was a success and made him a romantic hit with U.S. female audiences. He became a leading man of romance films, considered a heartthrob and a sex symbol; many actresses wanted to work with him in films, in which he was often cast as the exotic male Asian lover that women desired. After years of being typecast as a villain and exotic Asian lover that white women could not have, he decided to start his own production company, where he eventually made 23 films; he produced, starred in, and directed them, and contributed to their design, writing and editing. His films also influenced the way the United States viewed Asians. He personally chose American actress Marin Sais to appear opposite him in his films such as The City of Dim Faces and His Birthright. Hayakawa's collaboration with Sais ended with the film Bonds of Honor (1919). In 1919, Hayakawa made what is generally considered one of his best films, The Dragon Painter. After some bad business, he left the United States and for the next 15 years he worked in Europe and Japan where he made many popular films and plays such as the films The Great Prince Chan and the play Samurai which he performed for the king and queen of the United Kingdom at that time King George V and Queen Mary and a stage play version of The Three Musketeers. His fame in France came from France's fascination with anything Asian. In the 1930s with the rise of Talkies and growing Anti-Japanese sentiment due to World War II. During the war, he tried to perform in Europe but eventually became trapped by the Germans and for years was not able to work as an actor until Humphrey Bogart tracked him and down and offered him a role in his film Tokyo Joe (1949) which became a hit and afterwards he did another successful film Three Came Home (1950). After the war his image in films this time was as the honorable villain which he became typecasted as and from it he starred in what is considered to be his most famous film of his entire career The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) for which he was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. On February 8, 1960, in a joint ceremony with Anna May Wong,

Hayakawa became the first Asian American actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Beginnings

Hayakawa and his wife Tsuru Aoki (1892-1961), were born in Japan but following different paths had, in 1913, both joined a Japanese theater group in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. There they were discovered and put under contract by the pioneering motion picture producer Thomas Ince, who was recruiting “exotic” performers for his new film studio in Santa Monica. (For instance, Ince had also negotiated with the Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild West Show, which included a troupe of actual Sioux, to appear in his Westerns in exchange for winter grazing rights). After appearing in a couple of short films, Hayakawa and Aoki made their first feature, The Wrath of the Gods, released in May of 1914 just weeks after their marriage.

Appearances

Late TV Appearances

Year	Title	Role
1963	Route 66 (TV Series)	Takasuka
1958	The Geisha Boy	Mr. Sikita
1958	Wagon Train (TV Series)	Sakae Ito
1958	The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series)	Japanese Officer
1958	Studio One (TV Series)	Dr. Sato
1958	Kraft Theatre (TV Series)	Japanese soldier

Late Films

Year	Title	Role
1967	Junjô nijûsô	Tajima (final film role)
1966	The Daydreamer	The Mole (voice)
1961	The Big Wave	The Old Man
1960	Swiss Family Robinson	Kuala, Pirate Chief
1960	Hell to Eternity	Gen. Matsui
1959	Green Mansions	Runi
1958	The Geisha Boy	Mr. Sikita
1957	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Colonel Saito
1955	House of Bamboo	Insp. Kita (dubbed by Richard Loo)
1954	Nihon yaburezu
1953	Kurama Tengu to Katsu Kaishû	Awanokami Katsu
1953	Onna kanja himon - Akô rôshi	Sakon Tachibana
1950	Re mizeraburu: kami to jiyu no hata
1950	Re mizeraburu: kami to akuma
1950	Harukanari haha no kuni	Joe Hayami
1950	Three Came Home	Col. Mitsuo Suga
1949	Tokyo Joe	Baron Kimura

European, American and Japanese Films (1922-1947)

Year	Title	Role
1947	Quartier chinois	Tchang
1946	Le cabaret du grand large	Professeur Wang
1943	Le soleil de minuit	Matsui
1943	Malaria	Saïdi
1942	Gambling Hell	Ying Tchaï
1942	Patrouille blanche	Halloway
1938	Tempête sur l'Asie	Le prince Ling
1937	The Cheat	Prince Hu-Long
1937	Yoshiwara	Ysamo, Kuli (France)
1937	Atarashiki tsuchi	Iwao Yamato (German-Japanese)
1935	Kuni o mamoru mono: Nichiren	Nichiren (Japan)
1935	Tôjin Okichi	Townsend Harris (Japan)
1934	Bakugeki hikôtai	(Japan)
1932	The Sun Rise from the East	Kenji
1932	Running Hollywood (Short)	Sessue Hayakawa
1931	Daughter of the Dragon	Ah Kee (USA)
1929	Sessue Hayakawa in 'the Man Who Laughed Last' (Short)
1924	Have Killed	Hideo - l'antiquaire japonais
1924	Sen Yan's Devotion	Sen Yan
1924	The Great Prince Shan	Prince Shan
1924	The Danger Line	Marquis Yorisaka
1923	The Battle	Le Marquis Yorisaka
1922	The Vermilion Pencil	Tse Chan / The Unknown / Li Chan (USA)
1922	Five Days to Live	Tai Leung

Haworth Pictures (1919-1921)

Year	Title	Role
1919	A Heart in Pawn	Tomaya
1919	The Courageous Coward	Suki Iota
1919	His Debt	Goto Mariyama
1919	The Man Beneath	Dr. Chindi Ashutor
1919	The Gray Horizon	Yamo Masata
1919	The Dragon Painter	Tatsu - the Dragon Painter
1919	Bonds of Honor	Yamashito / Sasamoto
1919	The Illustrious Prince	Prince Maiyo
1919	The Tong Man	Luk Chen
1920	The Beggar Prince	Nikki / Prince
1920	The Brand of Lopez	Vasco Lopez
1920	The Devil's Claim	Akbar Khan / Hassan
1920	Li Ting Lang	Li Ting Lang
1920	An Arabian Knight	Ahmed
1921	The First Born	Chan Wang
1921	Black Roses	Yoda
1921	Where Lights Are Low	Tsu Wong Shih
1921	The Swamp	Wang

Famous Players-Lasky Films (1915-1918)

Year	Title	Role
1915	After Five	Oki - the Valet
1915	The Famine	Horisho
1915	The Chinatown Mystery	Yo Hong
1915	The Clue	Nogi
1915	The Secret Sin	Lin Foo
1915	The Cheat	Hishuru Tori (original release) / Haka Arakau
1915	Temptation	Opera Admirer
1916	Alien Souls	Sakata
1916	The Honorable Friend	Makino
1916	The Soul of Kura San	Toyo
1916	The Victoria Cross	Azimoolah
1917	Each to His Kind	Rhandah
1917	The Bottle Imp	Lopaka
1917	The Jaguar's Claws	El Jaguar
1917	Forbidden Paths	Sato
1917	Hashimura Togo	Hashimura Togo
1917	The Call of the East	Arai Takada
1917	The Secret Game
1918	The Hidden Pearls	Tom Garvin
1918	The Honor of His House	Count Ito Onato
1918	The White Man's Law	John A. Genghis
1918	The Bravest Way	Kara Tamura
1918	The City of Dim Faces	Jang Lung
1918	His Birthright	Yukio
1918	Banzai	The American General
1918	The Temple of Dusk	Akira

Thomas Ince Films (1914)

Year	Title	Role
1914	The Typhoon	Tokorama
1914	The Wrath of the Gods	Lord Yamaki
1914	The Sacrifice

Early Work (1914)

Year	Title	Role
1914	The Last of the Line (Short)	Tiah - Gray Otter's Son
1914	Mother of the Shadows (Short)	Running Elk
1914	The Vigil (Short)	Kenjiro
1914	Nipped (Short)	Taro Kamura
1914	The Hateful God (Short)	(unconfirmed)
1914	The Death Mask (Short)	Running Wolf
1941	Star of the North
1914	The Village 'Neath the Sea (Short)	Red Elk
1914	The Curse of Caste (Short)	Kato Matsumoto
1914	A Relic of Old Japan (Short)	Koto
1914	A Tragedy of the Orient (Short)	Kato
1914	The Ambassador's Envoy (Short)	Kam uri
1914	The Geisha (Short)	Takura
1914	The Courtship of O San (Short)	Shotoku
1914	O Mimi San (Short)	Yorotomo

Links

• Asian American Silent Film Stars]
• Miyao, Daisuke (2007). Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3969-4.