Want to know the best Miyoshi Umeki movies? How about the worst Miyoshi Umeki movies? Curious about Miyoshi Umeki box office grosses or which Miyoshi Umeki movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Miyoshi Umeki movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well, you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Miyoshi Umeki (1929-2007) was an Oscar®-winning Japanese-American singer and actress. Umeki was the first Asian woman to win an Academy Award® for acting. She won her Oscar® for 1957’s Sayonara. Her IMDb page shows over 20 acting credits from 1951 to 1972. This page will rank Miyoshi Umeki movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. To do well in our overall rankings a movie has to do well at the box office, get good reviews by critics, be liked by audiences, and get some award recognition.
Sayonara (1957) UMR Stats
Sayonara (1957) UMR Links
Flower Drum Song (1961) UMR Stats
Flower Drum Song (1961) UMR Links
Cry For Happy (1961) UMR Stats
Cry For Happy (1961) UMR Links
A Girl Named Tamiko (1962) UMR Stats
A Girl Named Tamiko (1962) UMR Links
The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962) UMR Stats
The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962) UMR Links
Miyoshi Umeki has two more movies. She appeared in 1953’s Seishun jazu musume and 1965’s The Touching and the Not Touching. The first movie never played in North American theaters, while the latter movie is a mystery, as there is not a whole of information on this movie.
I’ve seen all 5 shown here.
Hey Dan. I have only seen one of her movies….but it was her big one…Sayonara. Not surprised you have seen all 5 of the movies. Thanks for the feedback.
Although as Bruce says Miyoshi was Sayonara’s supporting actress Oscar winner her part in the movie is subordinate to that of Miiko Taka who is leading-man Brando’s love interest Hana-ogi.
Miyoshi plays Katsumi Kelly wife of American Airman Joe Kelly [Red Buttons] and driven by racial prejudice certain Army officers are trying to separate the pair even though Katsumi is pregnant. Rather than be parted the pair commit suicide and it is no doubt her ability of cope with the demands of such a dramatic part that won Miyoshi her well-deserved support Oscar.
Miiko Taka as the film’s leading lady was sent to Belfast for the Northern Ireland premier of the film and I attended the first night and watched her talk about the film on stage before the movie’s commencement.
Both Miyoshi and Miiko were reunited in Charlie Bill Stuart’s Cry for Happy which I note that Flora is naturally keen to see. Once again despite the previous Oscar success Miyoshi is subordinate to Miiko in the casting and billing. Cry for Happy could be said to be a “sexed-up” Teahouse of the August Moon – “rarely have I seen a movie with so many naughty innuendoes as Cry for Happy. Daring for 1961.” – IMDB review.
Miiko is still alive at 96 and has a reported current net worth of $7 million. Miyoshi at the time of her death in 2007 is said to have had an estimated net worth equivalent to as high as $6.4 million today; so both ladies apparently did well financially out of movies and -if those comparisons are accurate – in virtually equal measure.
This new page is “Voted Up” as I am please to see this Japanese actress from my youth receive a Cogerson page.
Hey Bob….awesome information share. Good to see that Miiko Taka is still around. Growing up I remember Miyoshi only knowing her from the television show The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. I remember being very surprised when I realized she was an Oscar winner. She joins Shirley Jones in that category of my memory. Interesting thoughts on Cry For Happy. Anybody interested in viewing that movie can watch it on the attached YouTube link on the page. Thanks for the vote up and for sharing her net worth at her passing. Looks like she invested her money well…as she did not have an IMDb credit for the last 35 years of her life. Good stuff as always.
I have seen two Miyoshi Umeki movies.
Flower Drum Song is a favourite. I have also seen Sayonara.
I will look for Cry for Happy because it is a Glenn Ford movie.
Hey Flora…thanks for checking out this page. Tally count: Dan 5, you 2 and me 1. I have only seen her in Sayonara. As for Cry For Happy….the above YouTube link is actually the full movie. You could knock out another Glenn Ford movie. Good stuff as always.