- Born
- Died
- Birth nameBetty Miiko Shikata
- Miiko Taka came into the world as Betty Miiko Shikata in Seattle, Washington, a Nisei born of Japanese immigrant parentage. She spent much of her upbringing in Los Angeles. In 1942, Betty and her family were removed from their homes and interned in the Gila River War Relocation Centre in Arizona, a concentration camp which had been set up following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour. One of her fellow detainees was the actor Pat Morita. Betty's internee file described her as a semi-skilled dressmaker and seamstress and suggested stenographer or typist as 'potential occupations'. Little is known of Betty's life prior to her debut in Joshua Logan's Sayonara (1957) , except that she had no prior acting experience and was employed as a clerk at a travel agency in L.A..
The role of Hana-Ogi, the celebrated Matsubayashi dancer who defies tradition by having a secret affair with an American pilot (Marlon Brando), had originally been earmarked for Audrey Hepburn. When Hepburn turned it down, Logan cast the unknown Miiko Taka in the part. Sayonara ultimately grossed $ 10.5 million and won four Oscars, including one for co-star Miyoshi Umeki as Best Supporting Actress. Miiko's performance was lauded by Variety and by Bosley Crowther of the New York Times who described her as "a flute-like beauty - a really lovely, serene and soothing impulse".
In the wake of Sayonara, Miiko was cast as a geisha opposite Glenn Ford in Opération geishas (1961), a predictable comedy about the assorted romantic affairs of four G.I.'s on leave in Japan during the Korean War. She had further high profile roles in Operation Bottleneck (1961) (as a girl guerrilla), Papa play-boy (1964) (with Bob Hope), Gare à la peinture (1965) (with James Garner) and Rien ne sert de courir (1966) (with Cary Grant in his last film appearance). On television, she was mostly typecast amid exotic backgrounds in such escapist entertainments as Hawaiian Eye (1959), Aventures dans les îles (1959), Les espions (1965) and Des agents très spéciaux (1964). Her penultimate screen appearance was as a Japanese noblewoman in James Clavell's miniseries Shogun (1980).
Miiko Taka was thrice married. Her first husband was the actor Dale Ishimoto with whom she had a son and a daughter.- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis
- SpousesReginald Lei Hsu(June 20, 2003 - present) (her death)Lennie Blondheim(1963 - present) (his death)Dale Ishimoto(October 23, 1944 - November 17, 1958) (divorced, 2 children)
- Taka introduced Sayonara to audiences in the trailer. On the poster, she is "described as an exquisite new Japanese star in James A. Michener's story of defiant desire." Rare for its time, the film dealt head-on with racism and prejudice. It had what many consider the first onscreen kiss on the mouth between a leading white star and an Asian.
- Taka married Japanese-American actor Dale Ishimoto in Baltimore, Maryland in 1944,and they had one son, Greg Shikata, who works in the film industry, and one daughter. They divorced in 1958.
- She also served as an interpreter for Mifune as well as Akira Kurosawa when they visited Hollywood.
- After director Joshua Logan's first choice for the role of Hana-ogi, Audrey Hepburn, turned him down, he looked to cast an unknown actress. Taka, who at the time was working as a clerk at a travel agency in Los Angeles, was discovered by a talent scout at a local Nisei festival. Although she had no previous acting experience, Variety gave her a positive review in their review of the film.
- Taka was born in 1925 in Seattle, but raised in Los Angeles, California as a Nisei; her parents had immigrated from Japan. In 1942, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, she was interned with her family at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona.
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