Miyoshi Umeki: Movies & Filmography

Miyoshi Umeki (梅木 美代志, Umeki Miyoshi; May 8, 1929 – August 28, 2007) was a Japanese and American singer and actress who made history as the first East Asia-born woman to win an Academy Award for acting, taking home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her poignant performance in Sayonara (1957). Born in Otaru, Hokkaido, as the youngest of nine children to a father who owned an iron factory, Umeki began her entertainment career as a nightclub singer in Japan after World War II, performing under the stage name Nancy Umeki. Her early artistic influences were a fascinating blend of traditional kabuki theater and American pop music, which shaped her unique vocal style and stage presence. After recording for RCA Victor Japan from 1950 to 1954 and appearing in the film Seishun Jazu Musume, she emigrated to the United States in 1955, where she quickly caught the attention of American audiences through her regular appearances on Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts. Her natural warmth and distinctive charm led director Joshua Logan to cast her in Sayonara, a role that would forever cement her place in Hollywood history and make her the first Asian actor to win an Academy Award.

Following her Oscar triumph, Umeki earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role as Mei Li in the Broadway premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song in 1958, directed by Gene Kelly. She reprised the role in the 1961 Universal Studios film adaptation, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Throughout her career, she was a three-time Golden Globe nominee, with her third nomination coming for her beloved portrayal of Mrs. Livingston, the housekeeper, on the television series The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969–1972). She also recorded several albums for Mercury Records and recorded two film theme songs for her motion pictures. Umeki retired from acting in 1972 following the end of that series. In her personal life, she married television director Frederick Winfield "Wynn" Opie in 1958, with whom she had a son named Michael, before their divorce in 1967. She later married Randall Firevod Hood in 1968, who passed away in 1976. Known as Miyoshi Hood in her later years, she eventually moved to Licking, Missouri, to be near her son and three grandchildren, where she died from cancer at the age of 78.