The first ever female Asian performer to be nominated for an Academy Award… actually won it! It was in 1958 that Miyoshi Ukemi won as Best Supporting Actress for the movie Sayonara, starring Marlon Brando. It was announced recently that Ms. Umeki passed away on August 28 at the age of 78 from cancer complications.

She was born in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan, on May 8, 1929, and was raised in the United States. She became popular at first as a singer, for some time known as Nancy Umeki, releasing material in Japan and the U.S. Her first movie appearance was in the Japanese musical Youthful Jazz Daughter in 1953. Soon after, Miyoshi made her television debut in North America, appearing as a regular guest on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends.

In 1957, Sayonara came to the big screen, telling tales of U.S. officers in Korea getting romantically involved with Japanese women. Miyoshi played the role of Katsumi, a character starting a tragic affair with an American serviceman. Despite winning an Oscar, she never got to participate in many movies, as she can be seen only in Cry for Happy and Flower Drum Song (both 1961), The Horizontal Lieutenant and A Girl Named Tamiko (both 1962), and… that’s it.

Still, she was a regular in the TV series The Courtship of Eddie’s Father from 1969 to 1972, and could also be seen on Broadway, as she won in 1959 a Tony Award for the stage production of Flower Drum Song.

With her first husband (television director Wynn Opie), Miyoshi had adopted a son. She remarried with another director (Randall Hood) in 1968 and became a widow in 1976. At that point, she had already retired, living in Hawaii for some time. Just before her death, she had been living near her son in Missouri.

Amazing smile, amazing cheekbones, amazing talent.