Sessue Hayakawa
Acting • Born 1889-06-10 – Died 1973-11-23
Biography
Sessue Hayakawa (June 10, 1889 – November 23, 1973) was a Japanese and American Issei (Japanese immigrant) actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States as well as Europe. Between the mid-1910s and the late 1920s, he was as well known as actors Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s. He starred in over 80 movies and has two films in the U.S. National Film Registry. His international stardom transitioned both silent films and talkies. Of his English-language films, Hayakawa is probably best known for his role as Colonel Saito in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he received a nomination for Academy Award Best Supporting Actor in 1957. He also appeared as the pirate leader in Disney's Swiss Family Robinson in 1960. In addition to his film acting career, Hayakawa was a theatre actor, film and theatre producer, film director, screenwriter, novelist, martial artist, and an ordained Zen master. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sessue Hayakawa, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
99 credits
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Movie • 1957
Col. Saito
House of Bamboo
Movie • 1955
Inspector Kito
The Honorable Friend
Movie • 1916
Makino
Temptation
Movie • 1915
Opera Admirer
The City of Dim Faces
Movie • 1918
Jang Lung
Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 12
Movie • 1922
Self
Hell to Eternity
Movie • 1960
General Matsui
The Geisha Boy
Movie • 1958
Mr. Sikita
Forfaiture
Movie • 1937
Prince Hu-Long
Green Mansions
Movie • 1959
Runi
Swiss Family Robinson
Movie • 1960
Kuala, Pirate Chief
Tokyo Joe
Movie • 1949
Baron Kimura
The Cheat
Movie • 1915
Hishuru Tori [Haka Arakau]
Patrouille blanche
Movie • 1942
Le Soleil de minuit
Movie • 1943
Matsui
Malaria
Movie • 1943
Le Cabaret du Grand Large
Movie • 1946
Professeur Wang
Quartier chinois
Movie • 1947
Tchang
The Devil's Claim
Movie • 1920
Akbar Khan / Hassan
The Dragon Painter
Movie • 1919
Tatsu - the Dragon Painter
Three Came Home
Movie • 1950
Colonel Michio Suga
Daughter of the Dragon
Movie • 1931
Ah Kee
The Wrath of the Gods
Movie • 1914
Lord Yamaki
John Gunther's High Road
Movie • 1959
Self
The Tong Man
Movie • 1919
Luk Chen
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Movie • 2019
(archive footage)
The Last of the Line
Movie • 1914
Tiah - Gray Otter's Son
Yoshiwara
Movie • 1937
Ysamo, Kuli
The Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant
Movie • 1958
Self
The Typhoon
Movie • 1914
Tokorama
The Daydreamer
Movie • 1966
The Mole (voice)
Running Hollywood
Movie • 1932
Sessue Hayakawa
The Death Mask
Movie • 1914
Running Wolf
The Daughter of the Samurai
Movie • 1937
Iwao Yamato
The Clue
Movie • 1915
Nogi
The Motherland Far Far Away
Movie • 1950
Joe Hayami
The Secret Game
Movie • 1917
Nara-Nara
His Birthright
Movie • 1918
Yukio
The Tragic General: Yamashita Tomoyuki
Movie • 1953
Tomoyuki Yamashita
Les Miserables I: God and the Devil
Movie • 1950
Les Miserables II: Banner of Love and Freedom
Movie • 1950
The Frozen Moment
Movie • 1964
Self
The Bottle Imp
Movie • 1917
Lopaka
Gambling Hell
Movie • 1942
Ying Tchaï
The Courageous Coward
Movie • 1919
Suki Iota
The Man Beneath
Movie • 1919
Dr. Chindi Ashutor
Tempête sur l'Asie
Movie • 1938
Prinz Ling
The Call of the East
Movie • 1917
Arai Takada
The Great Prince Shan
Movie • 1924
Prince Shan
47 Vendettas
Movie • 1953
Sakon Tachibana
Screen Snapshots (Series 1, No. 20)
Movie • 1921
Himself
The Victoria Cross
Movie • 1916
Azimoolah
The Battle
Movie • 1923
Le Marquis Yorisaka
Lover's Duet
Movie • 1967
Tajima
The Big Wave
Movie • 1961
The Old Man
The Temple Of Dusk
Movie • 1918
Akira
The Secret Sin
Movie • 1915
Lin Foo
Where Lights Are Low
Movie • 1921
T''Su Wong Shih
The First Born
Movie • 1921
Chan Wang
An Arabian Knight
Movie • 1920
Ahmed
Bonds of Honor
Movie • 1919
Yamashito / Sasamoto
Forbidden Paths
Movie • 1917
Sato
Hidden Pearls
Movie • 1918
Tom Garvin
The Honor of His House
Movie • 1918
Count Ito Onato
Li Ting Lang
Movie • 1920
Li Ting Lang
The Swamp
Movie • 1921
Wang
The White Man's Law
Movie • 1918
John A. Genghis
Black Roses
Movie • 1921
Yoda
O Mimi san
Movie • 1914
Yorotomo
Sen Yan’s Devotion
Movie • 1924
Sen Yan
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Movie • 2007
Self (archive footage)
I Have Killed
Movie • 1924
Hideo
Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks
Movie • 1931
Self
A Heart in Pawn
Movie • 1919
Tomaya
The Bravest Way
Movie • 1918
Kara Tamura
Banzai
Movie • 1918
The American General
The Vermilion Pencil
Movie • 1922
Tse Chan / The Unknown / Li Chan
Night Life in Hollywood
Movie • 1922
Self
After Five
Movie • 1915
Oki - the Valet
Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making
Movie • 2002
Self (archive)
Escape to Paradise/Water Birds
Movie • 1960
The Soul of Kura San
Movie • 1916
Toyo
Each to His Kind
Movie • 1917
Rhandah
日本敗れず
Movie • 1954
The Sun Rises from the East
Movie • 1932
Kenji
The Chinatown Mystery
Movie • 1915
Yo Hong
His Debt
Movie • 1919
Goto Mariyama
The Beggar Prince
Movie • 1920
Nikki / Prince
The Illustrious Prince
Movie • 1919
Prince Maiyo
The Brand of Lopez
Movie • 1920
Vasco Lopez
Hashimura Togo
Movie • 1917
Hashimura Togo
Five Days to Live
Movie • 1922
Tai Leung
The Jaguar's Claws
Movie • 1917
El Jaguar
Alien Souls
Movie • 1916
Sakata
The Danger Line
Movie • 1924
Marquis Yorisaka
The Gray Horizon
Movie • 1919
Yamo Masata
Taikouki
TV • 1965
Takeda Shingen
Asian Americans
TV • 2020
Self
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Sakae Ito