1. The Pat Suzuki family left Granada to work on a sugar beet farm and returned to California after the war.
16 Facts About Pat Suzuki
1. 2.
Pat Suzuki's singing so impressed Crosby that he helped her obtain a recording contract with RCA Victor.
3.
Pat Suzuki recorded several albums for RCA Victor, including her 1958 eponymous album, Pat Suzuki, and went on to win the Downbeat National Disc Jockey Poll award for "America's best new female singer" that year.
4.
Pat Suzuki received national exposure after appearances on several network television programs, including her television debut on The Lawrence Welk Show, The Frank Sinatra Show on ABC and Tonight Starring Jack Paar.
5.
Pat Suzuki actually turned down the role at first, for which she later won the Theatre World Award for an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, in 1959.
6.
However, Pat Suzuki did not appear in the 1961 film version of Flower Drum Song.
7.
Pat Suzuki had married photographer Mark Shaw on March 28,1960 and had given birth to their son David shortly before the film was being shot; in addition, Kwan had recently become notable for starring in The World of Suzie Wong.
8.
In 1960 Pat Suzuki was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category, for her album "Broadway '59".
9.
However, Pat Suzuki had largely retired from show business after David's birth.
10.
Pat Suzuki returned to touring nightclubs in 1963, and later performed on The Red Skelton Show in early 1964.
11.
Reportedly, Shaw had returned home one day to the New York apartment they shared with their son and, after describing his exciting fashion shoot earlier that day, enquired about Pat Suzuki's activities, prompting her to launch the nightclub tour.
12.
Pat Suzuki played the role of Ma Eng in the off-Broadway production of Frank Chin's The Year of the Dragon.
13.
Pat Suzuki appeared in Pat Morita's short-lived television sitcom Mr T and Tina, the first sitcom starring an Asian American family.
14.
Pat Suzuki continues to sing and act on stage in small and major venues such as Lincoln Center.
15.
Pat Suzuki has actively supported Asian American civil rights, and, together with Sab Shimono, hosted the 2018 podcast Order 9066, which detailed the history of Executive Order 9066 with first-person accounts.
16.
Pat Suzuki's haunting studio cover version of "How High the Moon" was released on her eponymous album in 1958.