Except for James Shigeta, who died a few days ago at the age of 85. When he first started out in Hollywood in the 1950s, he broke through the racial barriers to land hetero-romantic roles. One was even interracial, which scandalized audiences in the 1960s.
Generally the pursuit of The Girl was mediated by a competitor or buddy, giving Shigeta's movies a number of pleasant gay subtexts.
The Crimson Kimono (1959): Two L.A. detectives (Shigeta, bisexual actor Glenn Corbett) fall in love with the same girl.
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966): Elvis starts a helicopter service in Hawaii, and bonds with Dan Kohana (James Shigeta) and his ten-year old daughter.
Shigeta received fewer starring roles after the Swinging Sixties ended, but he appeared on tv in Medical Center, Mission: Impossible, The Young Lawyers, The Streets of San Francisco, and Hawaii Five-O, playing both idealistic young heroes and villains.
I remember him in Samurai (1979), a silly tv pilot with Joe Penny (then rumored to be gay) as a lawyer who goes undercover as a samurai warrior (which the producers thought was some kind of superhero). Shigeta played Takeo, his Asian-wisdom-spouting sensei.
His last role was in The People I've Slept With (2009), about a woman who has had many lovers. When she finds herself pregnant, she goes on a quest to find the father, accompanied by her gay BFF (Wilson Cruz). Shigeta plays her hip dad.
No wife is mentioned in his wikipedia article. Maybe he was gay.
See also: What Happened to the Asian Beefcake?
I'm pretty sure Japan stopped doing arranged marriages well before the Showa period. (Silly Hollywood...) They still are used as a plot device in harem anime, though. Tenchi Muyo being the obvious example.
ReplyDeleteIf you're ever unsure about the sexuality of a public figure, wikipedia is helpful. On the left side of an article is a "contents" box. One of the categories is "personal life." If that category contains things such as siblings, place of birth, interment, fun facts (e.g. "highest paid ventriloquist" or "missing one finger"), but nothing of a romantic/sexual nature, the subject is probably gay. If the category "personal life" is missing altogether, the subject is definitely gay.
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