James Yoshio Yoda (March 31, 1934 – January 13, 2023) was a Japanese-born American actor and businessman who played Takeo Fujiwara in the American television series ''

McHale's Navy ''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originate ...

''.

Early life

Yoda was born on March 31, 1934, in

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

, Japan, the only son of a family of manufacturers. After Yoda graduated high school, he enrolled at Keio University to study law. During this period, Yoda met Edward Ugast, then general manager in East Asia of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. Ugast encouraged Yoda to pursue a career in acting. Yoda abandoned his studies and immigrated to the United States, whereupon he enrolled at

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in August 1958 with aspirations of becoming a film producer. In summer 1961, William White, a USC faculty member, received a call from

Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successfu ...

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

seeking a young man who could speak English and Japanese. White contacted Yoda, who was then put in touch with MGM's casting office. After a series of interviews, Yoda was cast in the part of Sgt. Roy Tada in '' The Horizontal Lieutenant''. Yoda's success in that role led him to be cast as

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

Seaman 3rd Class Fujiwara "Fuji" Takeo Kobiashi in the American television series ''

''. He was recast in the role in the later feature-length films ''

'' and ''

McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force ''McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force'' is a 1965 film based upon the television 1962–1966 sitcom ''McHale's Navy''. Series supporting players Joe Flynn and Tim Conway are the leads for this sequel to the first film made in 1964, also named ...

''. Yoda continued attending school while acting, eventually earning a degree in cinema arts.

Later career

After ''McHale's Navy'' ended in 1966, Yoda acted in the 1969 segment of ''

Love American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a part of ABC's Friday primetime lineup ...

'' titled "Love and the Letter." He was associate producer for "The Walking Major", which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1971. In the cast reunion extra feature on the ''McHale's Navy'' first season DVD set, Edson Stroll (Virgil in the series) stated that Yoda began primarily using his middle name of James and worked as a

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

vice-president. He also reported that Yoda had secured his American citizenship. Yoda had lived in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

for fifteen years, serving as assistant vice president of inventory for Toyota in Hawaii, where he had become a United States citizen and was active in the

Lions Club The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

. From 2012 until his death, Yoda lived in Fullerton, California.

Personal life

Yoda announced that he was to wed Yoko Okazaki, a Japanese fashion model, in June 1964. In 1965, Yoda headed the panel of judges that chose the Nisek Week Festival Queen at the Biltmore Hotel in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Yoda died in Fullerton, California, on January 13, 2023, at the age of 88.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoda, Yoshio 1934 births 2023 deaths Japanese male television actors Male actors from Tokyo People from Fullerton, California USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni Keio University alumni Japanese business executives Toyota people Japanese emigrants to the United States American male actors of Japanese descent Naturalized citizens of the United States 20th-century Japanese male actors