James Saburo Shigeta was one of the first American actors of Asian origin who had important roles in big Hollywood productions



Shigeta made his debut in 1959, in the excellent crime drama The Crimson Kimono by Samuel Fuller. In his half a century long career he had worked with directors such as Sydney Pollack (great crime drama Yakuza in which his partners were Robert Mitchum and Ken Takakura who also passed away in 2014) and John McTiernan (Die Hard). For that time in film history, the important features of his acting style were the firm posture and an unobtrusive sense of pride, which combined with his handsomeness, evident charisma and a pleasant baritone resulted in him attaining an equal status with the leading Hollywood stars of that time. He sometimes played protagonists of interracial love affairs, and helped in changing the at the time common habit of white actors, such as Marlon Brando, Mickey Rooney and Alec Guinness, acting Japanese and Asian characters. The topics of films he appeared in were often racial and cultural clashes, and one of those was the romantic war drama Bridge to the Sun by Etienne Périer. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category Best Film Promoting International Understanding and was the adaptation of Gwendolen Terasaki’s autobiography. Shigeta plays Hidenari Terasaki, Japanese diplomat and husband of an American woman Gwen (Carroll Baker) who married his beloved wife in spite of his colleagues and Gwen’s family’s disapproval. It is the beginning of war and they get separated and Hidenari becomes a hunted fight eager to finish the war as soon as possible. (Josip Grozdanić)