was a pioneering actor who appeared on stage and film in the United States and Japan.

Biography

Born in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, 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 Blanche Partington (12 October 1866 – 12 March 1951) was a prominent San Francisco journalist and member of the San Francisco Bay Area literary and cultural scene. She is particularly noted for her relationships with prominent California writers ...

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 ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. "I was Japanese spy—I killed half a dozen Russians every night!" he told Partington. Theatrical manager

Kirke La Shelle Kirke La Shelle (September 23, 1862 – May 16, 1905) was an American journalist, playwright and theatrical producer. He was known for his association with such successful productions as ''The Wizard of the Nile'', ''The Princess Chic'', ''Besid ...

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 ''The City of Dim Faces'' is a lost 1918 silent film directed by George Melford and starring Sessue Hayakawa. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Cast *Sessue Hayakawa – Jang Lung *Doris Pawn – Ma ...

'' (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 film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...

's '' Something to Think About'' (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. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

, 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 film director and screenwriter. 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 t ...

. 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

* ''

'' (1918) * '' The Willow Tree'' (1920) * '' The River's End'' (1920) * ''

Pagan Love ''Pagan Love'' is a 1920 American silent romantic drama film produced and directed by Hugo Ballin and starring his wife Mabel Ballin, Togo Yamamoto, and Rockliffe Fellowes. Its alternate title is ''The Honourable Gentleman'', which is also t ...

'' (1920) * '' Something to Think About'' (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 American film actors of Asian descent Japanese male film actors Japanese male silent film actors 20th-century Japanese male actors Japanese male stage actors People from Yokohama Year of death missing 1886 births 20th-century American male actors