Michi Kobi
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Michi Kobi
OR:
Michi Kobi on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Michi Kobi (2 November 1924 – 1 March 2016), born Machiko Kobinata Okamoto, was an American actress.


Life

Kobi was born 2 November 1924 in
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
as Machiko Kobinata Okamoto. Her father, Rikikazu Okamoto, came to America at age 17 in 1902 and became a doctor. In 1923 her father went to Japan, married Ito Kobinata, and brought her to Sacramento. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, following the signing of
Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...
, Kobi and her mother were sent to
Tanforan Assembly Center The Tanforan Assembly Center was created to temporarily detain nearly 8,000 Japanese Americans, mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area, under the auspices of Executive Order 9066. After the order was signed in February 1942, the Wartime Civil Cont ...
and then
Topaz War Relocation Center The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an Internment of Japanese Americans, American concentration camp in which Nisei#American Nisei, Americans ...
. After the war she went to New York City, seeking to become an actor, and lived there the rest of her life. She studied acting at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
. In addition to acting on stage, screen, and television, she worked as a model, secretary, and translator. As a translator she worked for the
Japan External Trade Organization is an Independent Administrative Institution established by Japan Export Trade Research Organization as a nonprofit corporation in Osaka in February 1952, reorganized under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1958 (later t ...
(JETRO). She was very outspoken about the sanitized depictions of the conditions in the World War II internment camps and also campaigned for an apology and reparations. She left acting due to the few quality roles for Asian women. She died in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, New York City on 1 March 2016.


Filmography

* 1954: "The New Adventures of China Smith" (TV) * 1959: '' Tokyo After Dark'' playing Sumi Fukita * 1960: ''
12 to the Moon ''12 to the Moon'' is a 1960 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced and written by Fred Gebhardt, directed by David Bradley, and starring Ken Clark, Michi Kobi, Tom Conway, and Anna-Lisa. The film was dist ...
'' playing Dr. Hideko Murata * 1960: ''
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 U.S. Marine Corps, Marine hero Pfc. Guy ...
'' playing Sono * 1961: ''
Cry for Happy ''Cry for Happy'' is a 1961 American CinemaScope comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Glenn Ford and Donald O'Connor. It is a service comedy set in Japan and largely filmed there. The title song is sung during the opening credits ...
'' playing Hanakichi * 1991: ''
American Rickshaw ''American Rickshaw'' (), also known as ''American Tiger'', is a 1989 action fantasy film directed by Sergio Martino under the pseudonym of Martin Dolman. An international co-production of Italy and the United States, it stars Mitch Gaylord, Dani ...
'' playing Old Madame Luna * 2004: ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'' (TV) episode "Gaijin", playing Mrs. Ito


Theater

*1963–1964: original Broadway production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" playing 'Nurse Nakamura'


See also

* Hiroaki Sato, who knew Kobi for 30 years and wrote an article upon her death


References


External links

*
Michi Kobi Papers
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobi, Michi 1924 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actors from Sacramento, California American actresses of Japanese descent American film actresses American television actresses Japanese-American internees 21st-century American women