Miyoshi Umeki Dies--Oscar Winner Dead At 78
The Houston Missouri Herald (Thanks Jen) is reporting today that Miyoshi Umeki died on August 29 at her home in Licking, Missouri. She was 78. Miyoshi won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1958 has been a frequent guess in the Timmy blind item which is why I'm reporting her death and also to say she is not involved in any way in the blind item.
From wiki
Miyoshi Umeki (b. May 8, 1929, Otaru, Hokkaidō, Japan -- d. August 29, 2007, Licking, Missouri[1]), was an Academy Award-winning actress best known for her roles as Joe Kelly (Red Buttons)'s wife, Katsumi, in the 1957 film, Sayonara, and as housekeeper, Mrs. Livingston, in the TV series The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
Miyoshi Umeki (梅木美代志, Umeki Miyoshi?) (her birth name) began her career as a nightclub singer in Japan under the name Nancy Umeki (ナンシー梅木, Nancy Umeki?) before moving to the United States. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role, Sayonara (1957), becoming the first Asian actress to win the award. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway premiere production of the musical Flower Drum Song, which opened in 1958.
She appeared in only four more motion pictures during her career, most notably the film version of Flower Drum Song (1961). During 1969-1972 she appeared in The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
As a recording artist she made several records for RCA Victor Japan and appeared in some musical shorts as Nancy Umeki until she moved to the US. After her appearance on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts (she was a series regular for one season), she signed with the Mercury Records label and released several singles and two albums.
Her first marriage was to television director Wynn Opie in 1958; they adopted one son. She later married Randall Hood, a marriage that lasted until his death in 1976. She and Hood also ran a theatrical lighting business that she dissolved after her husband's passing. She lived out the remainder of her life in the small town of Licking, Missouri, near her son and his family.
