Lane Nakano (March 16, 1925 – April 28, 2005) was a former American combat soldier turned actor.

Early life

Nakano grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Nakano has two brothers, Frank and Lyle and two sisters, May and Lucy. Nakano's family adopted legendary Marine Corps combat interpreter

Guy Gabaldon Guy Louis Gabaldon (March 22, 1926 – August 31, 2006) was a United States Marine who, at age 18, captured or persuaded to surrender over 1,300 Japanese soldiers and civilians during the battles for Saipan and Tinian islands in 1944 during World ...

at age 12. Gabaldon was awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

for his heroic actions on Saipan and Tinian islands during World War II which included saving the lives of many Japanese civilians on the two islands.

World War II

During World War II, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, Nakano and his family were

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

at the

Heart Mountain Relocation Center The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted ...

in Wyoming.

Career

Military

While Nakano was in the

, he volunteered for service in the U.S. Army. Nakano and his brother were assigned to the legendary and much decorated,

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

Entertainment

Nakano's opportunity to work as an actor began when he was discovered after the war by Hollywood director and writer

Robert Pirosh Robert Pirosh (April 1, 1910 – December 25, 1989) was an American motion picture and television screenwriter and director. In 1951, he was nominated for another Academy Award for the screenplay '' Go for Broke!''. This was his directoria ...

. Pirosh cast Nakano as second billing after American actor

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment o ...

in the 1951 war film about the history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II, ''Go for Broke''.Yenne, Bill. (2007). Nakano was known as a singer in Los Angeles' Japanese-American community.

Business

After he left acting, Nakano became vice president of the import-export firm Magna Industries, Inc., of Los Angeles. For years, he also was involved in businesses related to greenhouses and aluminum siding.

Personal life

Nakano's wife is Fumi Nakano. They have two sons, Dean Nakano and

Desmond Nakano Desmond Nakano (born 1953) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is Sansei, or third-generation Japanese American. He directed the feature films, '' White Man's Burden'' (1995) and '' American Pastime'' (2007). His writing credits ...

. On April 28, 2005, Nakano died from emphysema in a hospital in Sherman Oaks,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He was 80 years old.

Legacy

Nakano's son, Desmond, wrote and produced the 2007 film '' American Pastime'' using Lane's experiences in internment camp as one source of historical information and naming the two lead characters Lyle and Lane. While the lead character is Lyle, Lane, the older of the two brothers, comes back from the 442nd missing a leg, and becomes the focal character in the final scene.

Filmography

Film

* 1949 Tokyo Joe - Rickshaw driver. * 1951 ''Go for Broke'' - Sam. * 1951 I Was an American Spy - Advance guard. * 1951

Peking Express ''Peking Express'' is a Dutch–Flemish reality game show that follows a series of couples as they hitchhike to or from Beijing (only in the first three seasons; seasons four and five are set in South America). The series has already gone throug ...

- driver of jeep. * 1951 No Questions Asked - Lon. * 1952

Japanese War Bride ''Japanese War Bride'' (also known as ''East is East'') is a 1952 drama film directed by King Vidor. The film featured the American debut of Shirley Yamaguchi in the title role. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin Internation ...

- Shiro Hasagawa. * 1952

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

- C17 pilot. * 1953 China Venture - Japanese sniper. * 1954 Hell and High Water - Japanese sailor. * 1954 Deep in My Heart- Japanese butler. * 1958 The Geisha Boy - Japanese gardener. * 1959 Don't Give Up the Ship - Japanese soldier. * 1965 Three Weeks of Love - Ken Okimura. * 1965 Sea of Souls - Ken Okimura.

Television series

* 1960 Hawaiian Eye. Then There Were Three episode. Season 1 episode 17. Taki. * 1960 Route 66. Layout at Glen Canyon episode. Season 1, episode 9. Nikko.

References

Additional sources

* Yenne, Bill. (2007)
''Rising Sons: The Japanese American GIs Who Fought for the United States in World War II.''
New York: Macmillan.

External links

*
Lane Nakano at TCM.comLane Nakano at AFI.com

Lane Nakano 1940 Census at ancestry.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakano, Lane United States Army personnel of World War II American military personnel of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees Male actors from Los Angeles 1925 births 2005 deaths American male actors of Japanese descent American film actors of Asian descent American male film actors 20th-century American male actors