Ricardo Montalban Says Sayonara

Wow, sorry for the cheesy title, but I couldn’t resist. Esteemed actor Ricardo Montalban passed away this week at the age of 88. Though he was best known for his roles in Fantasy Island and Star Trek, I mostly knew him through Sayonara, the cheesy but somehow Academy Award winning film starring a super hot Marlon Brando.

I had two interests in this film: for one thing, the lead lady (who I think was the only one NOT nominated for an Oscar) was my great-aunt-by-marriage which explains why she’s so pretty and I am not.

I also had to watch this film for my American Civilization class at Brown as an example of something I totally forgot. But Montalban’s role was the first time I had encountered a serious “yellow face” role (Mickey Rooney’s part in Breakfast At Tiffany’s doesn’t count), and the complexities of portraying a supposedly Asian male in Hollywood cinema. It was pretty awesome to see his role broken down: his character was completely de-masculated, down to his occupation as a Kabuki actor who played female roles, the scene of him taking his elaborate costume off, his unrequited love–yet, they could not even hire an Asian actor to portray the part. By essentially hiring a more “masculine” actor like Montalban, his role as Nakamura further supported the idea that Asian males were subpar to American men. Or something like that. My pop culture analysis is really rusty, since all I focus on right now is how bad The City is on MTV and how much I can’t stand that whiny Vicky lady on The Real Housewives of Orange County. Right. I think Efren can better break this down better.

So yeah. Good riddance, Montalban. I’ll always wonder what you thought of your role as Nakamura in retrospect. Did you know you almost made the top of the list for AsianWeek’s 25 Most Infamous Yellow Face Performances? Congrats. Add that to your Tony Award.

Anyway….did you know that my great-uncle has HIS OWN WIKIPEDIA ENTRY!?!

I had no idea he was born in Colorado and won a Purple Heart from World War II. I mean, I could ask my grandma about it, but she’d probably just lie to me again.