was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific in the United States during the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top billing in American motion pictures.

Life and career

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Aoki came to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1899 with her uncle, Otojirō Kawakami, his geisha wife,

Kawakami Sadayakko Sada Yacco or was a Japanese geisha, actress and dancer. Early life Sadayakko Kawakami was born July 18, 1871, the youngest of twelve children. "My grandfather on my mother's side was an assistant magistrate and rather famous, I hear. Our house ...

, and Otojirō's troupe of actors. At their first stop in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Tsuru performed with the troupe and assisted Sadayakko at a Palace Hotel tea ceremony where attendees raved over her "diminutive daintiness." But when the troupe ran into severe financial difficulties, Otojirō made arrangements to have Tsuru adopted by Toshio Aoki, a

sketch artist A sketch (ultimately from Greek σχέδιος – ''schedios'', "done extempore") is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work.Dia ...

for a local newspaper.Joseph L. Anderson, ''Enter a Samurai: Kawakami Otojirō and Japanese Theatre in the West'', 2 v. (Tucson: Wheatmark, 2011), 1: 65, 88. According to Anderson, Aoki was an old friend of an American missionary couple the Kawakamis had met aboard ship,

Merriman Colbert Harris Merriman Colbert Harris (July 9, 1846 – May 8, 1921) was a Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1904, who was active in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japan. Birth and family Merriman was born July 9, ...

and Flora Best Harris (89). Tsuru Aoki started taking lessons in ballet dance in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, when she went along with her uncle Toshio, who was hired by

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

for ''The Darling of the Gods''. After Toshio's death a reporter looked after Aoki. Aoki began her acting career after returning to Los Angeles and performing in stage productions in the city's Japanese Theatre where she was noticed by film producer Thomas Ince who placed the young actress under contract. She was also responsible for recruiting Japanese actors for Imperial Japanese Company, a subsidiary of New York Motion Picture Corporation. Aoki made her film debut in the Majestic film studios release ''

The Oath of Tsuru San ''The Oath of Tsuru San'' is an American silent short drama film starring William Garwood and Japanese actress Tsuru Aoki was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific in the United States during the silent film era ...

'' in 1913 opposite actor

William Garwood William Davis Garwood, Jr. (April 28, 1884 – December 28, 1950) was an American stage and film actor and director of the early silent film era in the 1910s. Between 1911 and 1913, Garwood starred in a number of early adaptions of popu ...

. Her follow-up film was the 1914 Ince produced ''O Mimi San'', which starred the American child actress

Mildred Harris Mildred Harris (April 18, 1901 – July 20, 1944) was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. Harris began her career in the film industry as a child actress when she was 10 years old. She was a ...

and a handsome young newcomer named

Sessue Hayakawa , known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man i ...

, whom Aoki had acted with onstage at the Japanese Theatre the previous year. The couple began a romantic relationship that would culminate in their marriage on May 1, 1914, just weeks before the release of their critically acclaimed and publicly successful film '' The Wrath of the Gods'' – a melodrama about an interracial romance between a man portrayed by

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

actor/ director

Frank Borzage Frank Borzage (; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an Academy Award-winning American film director and actor, known for directing '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street Angel'' (1928), '' Bad Girl'' (1931), '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's ...

and an Asian woman portrayed by Aoki. The film also starred Sessue Hayakawa and featured actress

Gladys Brockwell Gladys Brockwell (née Lindeman; September 26, 1894 – July 2, 1929) was an American actress whose career began during the silent film era. Early life and career Brockwell was born Gladys Lindeman in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1894. ...

. Hayakawa and Aoki would eventually make more than twenty films together throughout the 1910s and 1920s. Tsuru Aoki by Albert Witzel

One of Aoki's most recalled films of the silent period is the 1919 William Worthington-directed ''

The Dragon Painter ''The Dragon Painter'' is a 1919 English language silent romance drama film. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Mary McNeil Fenollosa. It stars Sessue Hayakawa as a young painter who believes that his fiancée (played by Hayak ...

'', based on the novel of the same title by

Sidney McCall Sidney McCall (March 8, 1865January 11, 1954), born Mary McNeill, later Mary McNeil Fenollosa, was an American novelist and poet. Several of her novels were adapted into films. Biography McCall was born Mary McNeill (later dropping one of the ...

, in which Aoki starred as a young woman who convinces an isolated, mentally deranged artist named Tatsu (portrayed by Hayakawa) to come down from the mountains so that she may civilize him and he may further his artistic abilities. Other notable films of the period were ''The Typhoon'' (1914), ''The Vigil'' (1914), ''The Geisha'' (1914), ''The Chinatown Mystery'' (1915), ''His Birthright'' (1918), and ''

The Breath of the Gods ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1920). Throughout the 1910s, Aoki would appear in approximately forty films, often in leading-lady roles which was a first for an Asian actress. Some of her co-stars of the era included such notable names as

Marin Sais Marin Sais (born Mae Smith; August 2, 1890 – December 31, 1971) was an American actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. Sais' acting career spanned over four decades and she is possibly best ...

, Jack Holt,

Jane Wolfe Sarah Jane Wolfe (March 21, 1875 – March 29, 1958) was an American silent film character actress who is considered an important female figure in magick. She was a friend and a colleague of Aleister Crowley and a founding member of Agape Lodg ...

Dagmar Godowsky Mercedes Dagmar Godowsky (November 24, 1897 – February 13, 1975) was an American silent film actress. Biography Mercedes Dagmar Godowsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 24, 1897, the daughter of Polish-Jewish composer Leopold Godow ...

Vola Vale Vola Vale (born Vola Smith; February 12, 1897 – October 17, 1970) was a silent film actress. Early career Vale was born in Buffalo, New York and educated in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her high school friends in Rochester, New York, where she w ...

Florence Vidor Florence Vidor (née Cobb, later Arto; July 23, 1895 – November 3, 1977) was an American silent film actress. Early life Vidor was born in Houston on July 23, 1895, to John and Ida Cobb. Her parents had married in Houston on March 3, 1894, bu ...

Earle Foxe Earle Foxe (born Earl Aldrich Fox; December 25, 1891 – December 10, 1973) was an American actor. Early years Foxe was born in Oxford, Ohio, to Charles Aldrich Fox, originally of Flint, Michigan, and Eva May Herron. He was educated at Ohio Sta ...

, and Walter Long. After a series of moderately successful Ince-produced two-reel serials, Aoki's career in the United States began to falter (while her husband's career began to build momentum), and the couple travelled to France in 1923 and filmed the popular Édouard-Émile Violet-directed drama ''La Bataille.'' After returning to America, however, Aoki made only three more films before retiring from the screen to raise her and Hayakawa's three children. Her last silent screen performance was the 1924 release ''The Danger Line''. Aoki would only return to the screen in 1960 (her first

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

) to once again appear with her husband in the drama ''

Hell to Eternity ''Hell to Eternity'' is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson. This film biopic is about the true experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon (played b ...

.'' She died the following year in Japan of acute

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part or ...

at the age of 69.

Filmography

Bibliography

''The Americanization of Tsuru Aoki: Orientalism, Melodrama, Star Image, and the New Woman''
by Sarah Ross. Duke University Press, 2005
Camera Obscura
20 (3 60):129-157; . *

References

External links

* *
Tsuru Aoki at Women Film Pioneers Project

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoki, Tsuru 1892 births 1961 deaths Actresses from Tokyo American film actresses American silent film actresses Japanese film actresses Japanese silent film actresses 20th-century Japanese actresses American actresses of Japanese descent American film actors of Asian descent Deaths from peritonitis Japanese emigrants to the United States 20th-century American actresses Japanese stage actresses American stage actresses Women film pioneers

Life and career

Filmography

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links