Miiko Taka obit

Miiko Taka, Marlon Brando’s Co-Star in ‘Sayonara,’ Dies at 97

After her sensational acting debut, she appeared in films alongside Glenn Ford, Bob Hope, James Garner and Cary Grant and in the miniseries 'Shogun.'

 

She was not on the list.

Miiko Taka, who made her film debut with a starring turn opposite Marlon Brando in Sayonara, the 1957 Korean War-set drama about “defiant desire,” has died. She was 97.

News of her death was posted Jan. 4 on social media by a grandson. Details of her death were not available, with her son informing The Hollywood Reporter through a spokesperson that his family did not want to participate in an obituary.

Taka also appeared with Glenn Ford and her Sayonara co-star Miyoshi Umeki in the war comedy Cry for Happy (1961), alongside Bob Hope in A Global Affair (1963), opposite James Garner (another Sayonara actor) in Norman Jewison‘s The Art of Love (1965) and with Cary Grant in his last film, Walk Don’t Run (1966), set during the Tokyo Olympics.

Directed by Joshua Logan and adapted by Paul Osborn from a 1954 novel by James Michener, Sayonara featured Brando as U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Lloyd “Ace” Gruver and Taka as an elegant Japanese dancer named Hana-ogi. They fall for each other but face hostility in an era that frowned on interracial romances and marriages.

Logan looked to cast an unknown after his first choice for the role, Audrey Hepburn, turned him down. The Seattle-born Taka was working as a clerk at a travel agency in Los Angeles when she was hired, even though she had no acting experience.

In his review for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther called her “a flute-like beauty — a really lovely, serene and soothing impulse.”

The Warner Bros. film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, and won four, with Red Buttons and Umemi taking the supporting acting trophies. (Umeki was the first woman of Asian descent to receive an Academy Award.)

In 1958, Taka visited Britain for the first time and was proclaimed “one of the most exciting film discoveries for many years.”

Miiko Shikata was born in Seattle on July 24, 1925, and raised in L.A. During World War II, she and her family were sent to a Japanese internment camp outside Phoenix.

Taka introduced Sayonara to audiences in the trailer, and on the poster, she is “described as an exquisite new Japanese star in James A. Michener’s story of defiant desire.” Rare for its time, the film dealt head-on with racism and prejudice and had what many consider the first onscreen kiss on the mouth between a leading white star and an Asian.

Taka followed up Sayonara with an appearance on a 1959 episode of Hawaiian Eye and showed up on TV in the 1960s on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy and The Wild Wild West.

Her big-screen résumé also included the war films Hell to Eternity (1960) and Operation Bottleneck (1961), a remake of Lost Horizon (1973), Paper Tiger (1975), The Big Fix (1978) and The Challenge (1982).

She also appeared on the acclaimed NBC 1980 miniseries Shogun, starring Richard Chamberlain.

Actress

Scott Glenn in The Challenge (1982)

The Challenge

6.2

Yoshida's Wife

1982

 

Richard Chamberlain and Yôko Shimada in Shogun (1980)

Shogun

8.1

TV Mini Series

Kiri

1980

5 episodes

 

Richard Chamberlain, Toshirô Mifune, and Yôko Shimada in Shogun (1980)

Shogun

7.8

TV Movie

Kiri

1980

 

Richard Dreyfuss in The Big Fix (1978)

The Big Fix

6.4

Saleswoman

1978

 

A Family Upside Down (1978)

A Family Upside Down

6.8

TV Movie

Mrs. Taka

1978

 

Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid (1977)

Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid

6.0

TV Movie

Receptionist

1977

 

Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers (1976)

Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers

6.9

TV Mini Series

Mom

1976

1 episode

 

Midway (1976)

Midway

6.8

(TV version only) (uncredited)

1976

 

Mister Yoso

(as Miko Taka)

1976

 

The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975)

The Lives of Jenny Dolan

6.4

TV Movie

Secretary

1975

 

David Niven, Toshirô Mifune, Irene Tsu, and Kazuhito Andô in Paper Tiger (1975)

Paper Tiger

5.8

Madame Kagoyama

1975

 

Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders (1974)

Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders

7.2

TV Movie

Jade Mirror

1974

 

The Little People (1972)

The Little People

7.9

TV Series

Mrs. Browning

1974

1 episode

 

Lost Horizon (1973)

Lost Horizon

5.2

Nurse

1973

 

Yul Brynner and Samantha Eggar in Anna and the King (1972)

Anna and the King

7.2

TV Series

Poor Peasant

1972

1 episode

 

George Hamilton, Richard Carlson, Arthur O'Connell, and Suzanne Pleshette in The Power (1968)

The Power

5.9

Mrs. Van Zandt

1968

 

Robert Conrad and Ross Martin in The Wild Wild West (1965)

The Wild Wild West

8.1

TV Series

Haruko Ishuda

1967

1 episode

 

Noel Harrison and Stefanie Powers in The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966)

The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

6.6

TV Series

Madame Dao

1967

1 episode

 

Sexy sa Labanan

(as Miko Taka)

1966

 

Walk Don't Run (1966)

Walk Don't Run

6.6

Aiko Kurawa

1966

 

Bill Cosby and Robert Culp in I Spy (1965)

I Spy

7.2

TV Series

Yoshino Tasuko

1965

1 episode

 

The F.B.I. (1965)

The F.B.I.

7.4

TV Series

Akiko Maddock

1965

1 episode

 

Angie Dickinson, James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Ethel Merman, and Elke Sommer in The Art of Love (1965)

The Art of Love

6.1

Chou Chou

1965

 

Robert Vaughn, Leo G. Carroll, and David McCallum in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

7.7

TV Series

Jade

1965

1 episode

 

Bob Hope, Liselotte Pulver, Elga Andersen, Michèle Mercier, and Miiko Taka in A Global Affair (1964)

A Global Affair

5.4

Fumiko

1964

 

Operation Bottleneck (1961)

Operation Bottleneck

4.9

Ari, Comfort Girl

1961

 

Gardner McKay in Adventures in Paradise (1959)

Adventures in Paradise

8.1

TV Series

Renge Yoshikawa

1961

1 episode

 

Cry for Happy (1961)

Cry for Happy

5.8

Chiyoko

1961

 

Hell to Eternity (1960)

Hell to Eternity

6.9

Ester

1960

 

Alcoa Theatre (1957)

Alcoa Theatre

7.4

TV Series

Nika Shioya

1959

1 episode

 

Robert Conrad, Anthony Eisley, Poncie Ponce, and Connie Stevens in Hawaiian Eye (1959)

Hawaiian Eye

7.6

TV Series

Sumiko

1959

1 episode

 

Panda and the Magic Serpent (1958)

Panda and the Magic Serpent

6.5

Fish Spirit (English version, voice)

1958

 

Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka in Sayonara (1957)

Sayonara

7.0

Hana-Ogi

1957

 

Soundtrack

Marlon Brando and Miiko Taka in Sayonara (1957)

Sayonara

7.0

performer: "Sayonara" ("Goodbye") (1957)

1957

 

Self

The Les Crane Show (1964)

The Les Crane Show

4.7

TV Series

Self

1964

1 episode

 

Here's Hollywood (1960)

Here's Hollywood

8.6

TV Series

Self (as Miko Taka)

1961

1 episode

 

Cinépanorama (1956)

Cinépanorama

7.3

TV Series

Self

1958

1 episode

 

Japanese Star Comes to Britain

Short

Self

1958

 

I've Got a Secret (1952)

I've Got a Secret

7.9

TV Series

Self - Guest Star

1958

1 episode

 

The Howard Miller Show

TV Series

Self

1957

1 episode

 

Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948)

Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall

7.6

TV Series

Self

1957

1 episode

 

The Arlene Francis Show (1957)

The Arlene Francis Show

5.5

TV Series

Self - Japanese Actress

1957

1 episode

 

Archive Footage

TCM Remembers 2023 (2023)

TCM Remembers 2023

8.7

Short

Self - Actress (archive footage)

2023