50 Facts About Sessue Hayakawa

Kintaro Hayakawa, known professionally as Sessue Hayakawa, was a Japanese actor and a matinee idol.

Sessue Hayakawa was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s.

Sessue Hayakawa impressed Hollywood figures and was signed to star in The Typhoon.

Sessue Hayakawa made his breakthrough in The Cheat, and became famous for his roles as a forbidden lover.

Sessue Hayakawa was one of the highest paid stars of his time, earning $5,000 per week in 1915, and $2 million per year through his own production company from 1918 to 1921.

Sessue Hayakawa starred in over 80 feature films, and three of his films stand in the United States National Film Registry.

Sessue Hayakawa was born Kintaro Sessue Hayakawa in the village of Nanaura, now part of a town called Chikura, in the city of Minamiboso in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, on June 10,1886.

Sessue Hayakawa's father was the head of a fishermen's union with some wealth.

From an early age, Sessue Hayakawa's family intended him to become an officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy.

One evening, Sessue Hayakawa entered a shed on his parents' property and prepared the venue.

Sessue Hayakawa put his dog outside and attempted to uphold his family's samurai tradition by stabbing himself more than 30 times in the abdomen.

Sessue Hayakawa graduated from the University of Chicago in 1912, and subsequently made plans to return to Japan.

Sessue Hayakawa traveled to Los Angeles and awaited a transpacific steamship.

Sessue Hayakawa's acting career instead likely followed a series of odd jobs in California: as a dishwasher, waiter, ice cream vendor, and factory worker; his theatrical appearances were just another temporary pursuit.

One of the productions in which Sessue Hayakawa performed was called The Typhoon.

Eager to return to Japan, Sessue Hayakawa tried to dissuade Ince by requesting the astronomic fee of $500 a week, but Ince agreed to his request.

Sessue Hayakawa sought roles but, dissatisfied with being constantly typecast, Hayakawa decided to form his own production company.

Sessue Hayakawa produced, starred in, and contributed to the design, writing, editing, and directing of the films.

Sessue Hayakawa sought to bring, or the "absence of doing", to his performances, in direct contrast to the then-popular studied poses and broad gestures.

In 1918, Sessue Hayakawa personally chose the American serials actress Marin Sais to appear opposite him in a series of films, the first being the racial drama The City of Dim Faces, followed by His Birthright, which starred Aoki.

Sessue Hayakawa appeared opposite Jane Novak in The Temple of Dusk and Aoki in The Dragon Painter.

Sessue Hayakawa drove a gold plated Pierce-Arrow and entertained lavishly in his "Castle", which was known as the scene of some of Hollywood's wildest parties.

Sessue Hayakawa took Aoki on a trip to Monaco where he gambled at the Monte Carlo Casino.

Sessue Hayakawa left Hollywood in 1922; different authors give various explanations such as prevailing anti-Japanese sentiment and business difficulties.

Sessue Hayakawa visited Japan with Aoki for the first time since he had come to the US.

Sessue Hayakawa returned soon afterwards, however and played the lead role in Tiger Lily on Broadway in 1923.

In London, Sessue Hayakawa starred in The Great Prince Shan and The Story of Su.

In 1930, Sessue Hayakawa performed in Samurai, a one-act play written specifically for him, in front of Great Britain's King George V and Queen Mary.

Sessue Hayakawa became widely known in France, where audiences "enthusiastically embraced" him and made his French debut, La Bataille, a critical and financial success.

Sessue Hayakawa was the first non-Caucasian actor to achieve international stardom.

Sessue Hayakawa's accent did not go over well when sound was added to movies.

Sessue Hayakawa played a samurai in the German-Japanese co-production The Daughter of the Samurai.

Sessue Hayakawa made few films in the following years, but supported himself financially by selling his watercolor paintings.

Sessue Hayakawa became friends with writer Jirohachi Satsuma who was trapped in France.

In 1949, Humphrey Bogart's production company located Sessue Hayakawa and offered him a role in Tokyo Joe.

Sessue Hayakawa followed Tokyo Joe with Three Came Home, in which he played real-life POW camp commander Lieutenant-Colonel Suga, before returning to France.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Sessue Hayakawa earned a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor; he was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Sessue Hayakawa called the role the highlight of his career.

Sessue Hayakawa was constantly typecast as a villain or forbidden lover and was unable to play parts that would be given to white actors such as Douglas Fairbanks.

Sessue Hayakawa's dilemma was analogous to that of Rudolph Valentino, nine years his junior; both were foreign born, and were typecast as exotic or forbidden lovers.

Sessue Hayakawa was placed in this awkward position due to his ethnicity.

Some Japanese believed that Sessue Hayakawa was contributing to increased anti-Japanese sentiment in the US, and regarded him as a traitor to the Japanese people.

On May 1,1914, Sessue Hayakawa married fellow performer Tsuru Aoki, who co-starred in several of his films.

Sessue Hayakawa had an affair with a white actress, Ruth Noble, a fellow vaudeville performer who had co-starred with him in The Bandit Prince.

Sessue Hayakawa is a good horseman and plays a fast tennis racket.

Sessue Hayakawa was known for his discipline and martial arts skills.

Sessue Hayakawa died in Tokyo on November 23,1973, from a cerebral thrombosis, complicated by pneumonia.

Sessue Hayakawa was buried in the Chokeiji Temple Cemetery in Toyama, Japan.

In 1960, Sessue Hayakawa was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California for his contributions to the motion picture industry.

Sessue Hayakawa's legacy is lasting, especially in the Asian-American community.