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LOS ANGELES, July 23 - Mako Iwamatsu, the Japanese-American acting pioneer who opened the doors for Asian Americans to Hollywood, died of esophageal cancer at his home in southern California on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. He was 72.
Born as Makoto Iwamatsu in Kobe, Japan, in 1933, he moved to the United States to join his parents, who had emigrated there earlier, when he was 15. After his service in the U.S. military, he embarked upon a career in film and theater.
In the 1966 film "The Sand Pebbles," which starred Steve McQueen, he played the Chinese character Po-han, earning an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
I was really looking forward to his work on the TMNT movie as Splinter and on Avatar as Uncle Iroh. The first time, I think, I saw him was in The Incredible Hulk but he really was phenomenal in Sand Pebbles. Such a great character actor.
 They say he was an absolute class act. |
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