Mako passes away at age 73

[Sefton]

Japanese-American actor Mako has died at age 73 of cancer. Nominated for a best supporting actor academy award for the 1966 Steve McQueen film "The Sand Pebbles". During his long career in films,television and stage he played many memorable characters.

Some of his TV works include;"77 Sunset Strip","McHale's Navy","The F.B.I","The Streets of San Francisco" and "Kung Fu".

Some of his movie credits are; "Conan the Barbarian","Pacific Heights","Rising Sun","Pearl Harbor", and "Memoirs of a Geisha",

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I hadn't heard. What a great actor with a lot of style. R.I.P. Mako.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Very sad news, especially for those of us who have still been hoping for another episode/film to be the finale of the "Samurai Jack" saga - I can't imagine anybody but Mako doing the voice of shapeshifting uber-villain Aku!

 

[jake_fink]

I will try to remember him in The Sand Pebbles and not in Conan the Barbarian. Apparently dying has caused him to miss a chance at voicing some kind of mouse thing in a relaunch of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. Death can be cruel, and death can be merciful.

He was a very good actor who was often in not very good films, or cast in very... limited roles - a problem, I think, with representations of race in American cinema. He started a theatre company called the East West players, an all Asian company based in Los Angeles which has a good rep. Maybe someone from California knows more about that.

 

[Feraud]

Jeeze Louise. Another fine character actor has left us.
Mako had such a memorable face and voice!
Doc Strange, I made it a point to tell my son who Mako is when I heard that distinct voice as Aku!
R.I.P.

 

[Hondo]

I will try to remember him in The Sand Pebbles and not in Conan the Barbarian. Apparently dying has caused him to miss a chance at voicing some kind of mouse thing in a relaunch of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. Death can be cruel, and death can be merciful.

He was a very good actor who was often in not very good films, or cast in very... limited roles - a problem, I think, with representations of race in American cinema. He started a theatre company called the East West players, an all Asian company based in Los Angeles which has a good rep. Maybe someone from California knows more about that.

I didn't see this thread so excuse the mix up (its a 110 up here in Northen Calif. :rage: ) Yeah, I'll do the same The Sand Pebbles, but really its all about work, so it was cool where ever he found it, but "a Chinese character who spoke pidgin English, called the white sailors in the movie master, and treated them as such. But through the power of his acting, Mako transformed Po-han and compelled the audience to empathize and identify with the engine-room coolie" A powerful film role, I remember Steve McQueen teaching him about the ships engine in this film, even through he did not win a Oscar, it was a great honor. RIP

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Here is an informative link Hondo posted in The Moving Picture Forum:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/24/BAG6GK4ANO1.DTL

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Back in the '70s, I saw him perform live in an excellent Stephen Sondheim musical, Pacific Overtures. Great voice and presence.


.

 

[zeus36]

Sad news.

I did get to meet him and have a brief chat while working out at a gym in Camarillo. This was back in the late 90's. Didn't mention Conan, but I remember he played in Tora! Tora! Tora!

 

[Michaelson]

He was a true actor, and I mean that in the truest since of the word...as there was no job so small, or so big that he would turn it down. He was true to his craft...and a job was a job. Robert Mitchum was the same....do the job, pick up your paycheck, move on to the next one...

It's hard to believe he's gone. He was one of those guys you expected to be around forever. Well, as long as we have his films, he will be.

Regards! Michaelson