Reiko Sato Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Reiko Sato
Acting
Biography
Reiko Sato (Japanese: レイコ・佐藤; December 19, 1931 – May 28, 1981) was an American dancer and actress. Sato was born in Los Angeles, California, to an issei Zen Buddhist priest, Ken-ichi Sato, and his wife Chieko. She and her family were interned at the Gila River War Relocation Center during World War II. Her mother became a real estate investor after the war; Reiko also had an older brother, Keiichiro, and a younger brother, Koji. She graduated from Belmont High School in 1949, later attending Los Angeles City College. She continued her studies in ballet. Sato is best known for playing seamstress Helen Chao in the 1961 feature film Flower Drum Song. She also had a dramatic role in The Ugly American, receiving personal coaching from actor Marlon Brando with whom she had a relationship. She had been on contract with Fox and Universal, but nothing materialized, and she retired from Hollywood. She had performed as the original Princess of Ababu in the Broadway production of Kismet, as well as the movie. In 1955, she played the female lead of Lotus Blossom in the second national tour of John Patrick's play The Teahouse of the August Moon opposite Larry Parks. She was also in the Broadway play, Destry Rides Again, having two roles. Sato was scheduled to return to Broadway as part of a 1966 musical Chu Chem, but its chaotic Philadelphia tryout led to the production being canceled before reaching New York. She participated in regional theater as well, performing in the Valentina Oumansky Dramatic Dance Ensemble on September 24, 1970, in Hilo, Hawaii. Sato spent her final years involved in various organizations promoting equality for Asian-American performers. She lived on Mulholland Drive. She died of a brain aneurysm on May 28, 1981. Half of her ashes were sent to a Buddhist temple. The other half was "spirited away" to Marlon Brando's private island. Her authorized biography, Reiko Sato by Samuel Clemens was published on February 4, 2022.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Kismet
A silver-tongued poet and self-proclaimed "King of the Beggars" searches old Baghdad for a rich bachelor to marry his dreamy daughter, Marsinah. Along the way, he poses as the renowned sorcerer Hajj and gets in and out of scrapes with an elderly thief, a dim-witted wazir, and his wife. Meanwhile, his daughter develops feelings for a handsome caliph.
Target Hong Kong
Yankee soldiers-of-fortune smash a spy plot aimed at seizing Hong Kong.
Flower Drum Song
A young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown, from Hong Kong, with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers.
Woman on the Run
Frank Johnson, a sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris, on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation. Frank's wife, Eleanor, suspects he is actually running away from their unsuccessful marriage. Aided by a newspaperman, Danny Leggett, Eleanor sets out to locate her husband. The killer is also looking for him, and keeps close tabs on Eleanor.
On the Town
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
House of Bamboo
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
The Ugly American
An intelligent, articulate scholar, Harrison MacWhite, survives a hostile Senate confirmation hearing at the hands of conservatives to become ambassador to Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war threatens a tense peace. Despite his knowledge, once he's there, MacWhite sees only a dichotomy between the U.S. and Communism. He can't accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism. So, he breaks from his friend Deong, a local opposition leader, ignores a foreman's advice about slowing the building of a road, and tries to muscle ahead. What price must the country and his friends pay for him to get some sense?
Hell to Eternity
Based on the story about Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. After Pearl Harbor, his foster family is interned at the Manzanar camp for Japanese Americans, while he enlists in the Marines, where his ability to speak Japanese becomes a vital asset. During the Battle of Saipan, he convinces 800 Japanese to surrender after their general commits suicide.
Mother Didn't Tell Me
Jane Morgan (Dorothy McGuire) marries handsome doctor William Wright (William Lundigan), despite warnings from a host of other doctor's wives that she will be neglected and lonely, thanks to his career. Based on the novel The Doctor Has Three Faces by Mary Bard and billed as a movie with "all the answers" for new wives, this dated little film follows Jane's struggles to adapt her life to better suit her husband's needs.
That's Dancing!
A documentary film about dancing on the screen, from its origins after the invention of the movie camera, over the movie musical from the late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, up to the break dance and music videos from the 80s.
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