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Sessue Hayakawa

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Actor

The Resume

    (June 10, 1889-November 23, 1973)
    Born in Minamiboso, Japan
    Birth name was Kintaro Hayakawa
    Appeared in the films 'The Typhoon' (1914), 'The Secret Sin' (1915), 'The Cheat' (1915), 'Temptation' (1915), 'The Bottle Imp' (1917), 'The Secret Game' (1917), 'The Dragon Painter' (1919), 'The Swamp' (1921), 'Daughter of the Dragon' (1931), 'Daughter of the Samurai' (1937), 'Tokyo Joe' (1949), 'Three Came Home' (1950), 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957), 'The Geisha Boy' (1958), 'Swiss Family Robinson' (1960) and 'The Daydreamer' (1966)

Why he might be annoying:

    His family wanted him to become a naval officer, but he swam to the bottom of a lagoon on a dare and ruptured his eardrum, causing him to fail the physical.
    In response, he attempted to commit seppuku, stabbing himself in the abdomen 30 times.
    As quarterback for the Univeristy of Chicago, he was penalized for using jujitsu to take out an opposing player.
    He was usually typecast as either a villain or an exotic but forbidden lover.
    Just before Prohibition went into effect, he bought a huge stash of liquor, to which he later attributed his success on the Hollywood social scene.
    He lost a million dollars in a single evening of gambling in Monte Carlo.
    He had a custom-made gold-plated Pierce Arrow. When Fatty Arbuckle got an identical car, Hayakawa donated his no longer one-of-a-kind auto to the Long Beach fire department.

Why he might not be annoying:

    Influenced by Zen Buddhism and muga ('the absence of doing'), he was one of the first actors to avoid broad gestures on the screen.
    In reaction to being typecast, he formed his own production company (1918).
    He was one of the highest-paid stars of the day, earning $2 million a year in 1918-21.
    He gave a command performance for King George V and Queen Mary (1930).
    Having gotten trapped in France during the German invasion, he worked with the French Resistance and helped Allied fliers escape.
    He was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for 'The Bridge on the River Kwai.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 14 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 21 Votes: 47.62% Annoying