And now, he is gone.
Mako Iwamatsu 1933 – 2006
In the early days of his acting career, when most roles offered to Asian American actors were caricatures or stereotypes, Mako took just such a part and used it to open the doors of Hollywood and Broadway to others.
In the 1966 film “The Sand Pebbles,” he played the Chinese character Po-han, who spoke pidgin English, called the white sailors in the movie “master,” and treated them as such. But through the power of his acting, Mako transformed Po-han and compelled the audience to empathize and identify with the engine-room “coolie.”
The portrayal earned Mako an Academy Award nomination, which he used to continue his push for more and better roles for Asian American actors.
Mako, who in 1965 co-founded East West Players, the nation’s first Asian American theater company, died Friday of esophageal cancer at his home in the Ventura County town of Somis. He was 72.
“What many people say is, ‘If it wasn’t for Mako there wouldn’t have been Asian American theater,’ ” said Tim Dang, current artistic director of East West Players, based in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles. “He is revered as sort of the godfather of Asian American theater.”
[…]
“Of course we’ve been fighting against stereotypes from Day One at East West,” Mako said in a 1986 interview with The Times. “That’s the reason we formed: to combat that, and to show we are capable of more than just fulfilling the stereotypes — waiter, laundryman, gardener, martial artist, villain.”
The company’s mission soon expanded to include training writers. “Unless our story is told to [other] people, it’s hard for them to understand where we are,” Mako said.
Mako was in tons of character roles as well as the big ones. He also did voice overs on am myriad of shows. Ones that I have seen being Avatar‘s Uncle Iroh, Samurai Jack‘s Aku. He made those characters more than just ink and cels. I can’t see anyone else replacing his work.
(via la times)
