was a pioneering

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who appeared on stage and film in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Biography

Born in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, Japan, on 4 November 1886, Togo emigrated to the United States and began an acting career in the early years of the 20th century. Yamamoto told Blanche Partington in a 1906 interview that he had been "in the dramatic business" in Japan, playing "tragedy, comedy, both" before coming to the United States. His first appearance on the American stage was in ''The White Tigress of Japan'' (1904), a play about the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

. "I was Japanese spy—I killed half a dozen Russians every night!" he told Partington. Theatrical manager Kirke La Shelle spotted him in the production and hired him to play the part of a Japanese servant in ''The Heir to the Hoorah'' (1905). Yamamoto subsequently appeared in a number of stage plays, including ''The Offenders'' (1908), ''An American Widow'' (1909), ''The Inferior Sex'' (1910), ''The Muezzin'' (1910), '' Kismet'' (1911), ''Miss Phoenix'' (1913), and others. In 1918, Yamamoto made his first appearances on the silver screen in ''The Midnight Patrol'' (1918) and '' The City of Dim Faces'' (1918). In both films he played Chinese characters, as he did in many of his later American films. He appeared in more than a dozen American films, most notably

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most co ...

's ''

Something to Think About ''Something to Think About'' is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Elliott Dexter and Gloria Swanson. Art direction for the film was done by Wilfred Buckland and art titles were done by Ferdin ...

'' (1920), in which he played a Japanese servant, and '' Flesh and Blood'', a 1922 film starring

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often gr ...

, in which he played a Chinese character, The Prince. In 1925, Yamamoto returned to his native Japan and appeared with Tokihiko Okada in a film entitled ''Maboroshi no hansen''. After a four-year hiatus, he returned to the Japanese screen in two 1929 films and no fewer than eleven 1930 films, including '' Sono yo no tsuma'' and ''Ojosan'', both directed by

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s. The most pr ...

. He worked steadily through the 1930s, appearing in more than 40 films, working with directors like Ozu and Hiroshi Shimizu, usually in supporting roles. In the 1940s, however, he appeared in only a handful of films. Among his last were ''Nishi manrui'' (''Two outs, Bases Loaded'', 1946) and ''Yottsu no koi no monogatari'' (''Four Tales of Passion'', 1947).List of film appearances (in Japanese)
/ref>

Partial filmography

* '' The City of Dim Faces'' (1918) * '' The Willow Tree'' (1920) * '' The River's End'' (1920) * '' Pagan Love'' (1920) * ''

'' (1920) * '' A Tale of Two Worlds'' (1921) * '' Where Lights Are Low'' (1921) * '' The Lure of Jade'' (1921) * '' Reported Missing'' (1922) * '' Flesh and Blood'' (1922) * '' The Shock'' (1923) * '' Head Winds'' (1925) * '' That Night's Wife'' (その夜の妻 Sono Yo no Tsuma, 1930)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Togo Japanese emigrants to the United States American male stage actors American male film actors American male silent film actors American male actors of Japanese descent Japanese male film actors Japanese male silent film actors 20th-century Japanese male actors Japanese male stage actors Male actors from Yokohama Year of death missing 1886 births 20th-century American male actors