Miiko Shikata (Japanese: 志方以子, Hepburn: Shitaka Miiko) (July 24, 1925 – January 4, 2023), known professionally as Miiko Taka (高美以子, Taka Miiko), was an American actress. She was known for her film and television roles from the late 1950s until the early 1980s. Her best known role was as an elegant Japanese dancer starring with Marlon Brando in the romantic drama Sayonara (1957).
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Early years
Taka was born on July 24, 1925 in Seattle, but raised in Los Angeles as a Nisei; her parents had immigrated from Japan. In 1942, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, she was interned with her family at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona.
Career
After Audrey Hepburn, director Joshua Logan's first choice for the role of Hana-ogi, turned him down, he looked to cast an unknown actress. Taka, who at the time was working as a clerk at a travel agency in Los Angeles, was discovered by a talent scout at a local Nisei festival. Although she had no previous acting experience, Variety gave her a positive review in their review of the film. Warner Bros. gave her a term contract as a result of her performance in Sayonara.
After Sayonara, she worked in films with James Garner, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Glenn Ford, Miyoshi Umeki and Toshirō Mifune (alongside whom she also worked in the 1980 television miniseries Shõgun). She also served as an interpreter for Mifune and Akira Kurosawa when they visited Hollywood.
Personal life
Taka married Japanese-American actor Dale Ishimoto in Baltimore, Maryland in 1944, and they had one son, Greg Shikata, who works in the film industry, and one daughter. They divorced in 1958.
Taka married Los Angeles television news director Lennie Blondheim in 1963. She resided in Las Vegas, Nevada. Following Blondheim's death in 2002, she married Reginald Hsu in 2003.
Death
Taka died on January 4, 2023, at the age of 97. She is interred at Rose Hills Memorial Park.
Filmography
Television
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