MovieChat Forums > Flower Drum Song (1962) Discussion > Miyoshi Umeki - Too old for the part

Miyoshi Umeki - Too old for the part

posted 12 years ago by EdgarST
6 replies | jump to latest

While watching the film I noticed it, then checked the bios and indeed, it is more obvious because while Umeki was around 30, Nancy Kwan was 22.

[–] NY Whovian 12 years ago

Her actual age doesn't matter; it's her portrayal that counts. She had the qualities that the producers and directors (both Broadway and Hollywood) envisioned for the character, and that's why she got the role.

Movies and TV regularly cast actors that are older than the characters they play. With rare exceptions, performers of the correct age don't have the life experience to accurately portray characters their own age. One great example in 'The Night That Panicked America', in which a 17-year-old New Jersey farm-boy is played by John Ritter - who was 37 at the time.

[–] jporter-6 11 years ago

At the time--and, as casting for Memoirs of a Geisha demonstrated, still may be--casting Asians is always difficult because of a small pool of qualified talent. (That's not a judgment call. The same problem exists for many ethic groups.)

During WWII, for example, many Chinese and other Asian extras and actors portrayed Japanese soldiers.

So the producers and director made a judgment call casting Ms. Umeki. An excellent cnoice I think by the way.

[–] beetiesmom 11 years ago

Ms. Umeki (God rest her soul) was perfect for this role---and her face was ageless, it was very easy to believe she was a very young woman, which she was anyway, coming to American to be wed. She was just so cute and talented.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Perhaps she was too old for the role -- forget about her age vis-a-vis Nancy Kwan, which is irrelevant, she was four years older than James Shigeta -- and it's true she couldn't quite pass for a woman in her early twenties.

That said, she brought a talent and luminosity to the role that more than compensated for her being a bit too old for it (and it was only a matter of maybe five or six years anyway).

As has been pointed out, many performers are too old -- or too young -- for the parts they play. Usually their talent and presence can more than compensate. It only doesn't work well when the audience is all too aware of the actor's true age and he's playing a character clearly far removed from his real age: for example, James Stewart in The Spirit of St. Louis and Gig Young in The Desperate Hours, both men in their mid-to-late 40s trying to portray men in their mid-20s; or even William Holden in Picnic, at 37 playing a character in his mid-20s. On the other hand, "aging" actors through make-up to play someone many years older generally works well enough. Some actors, such as Lee J. Cobb and Angela Lansbury, were frequently cast as much older people with no hint of unsuitability for the roles.

[–] bcamphome 10 years ago

During WWII, for example, many Chinese and other Asian extras and actors portrayed Japanese soldiers.

That's because Japanese and Japanese-American actors had either left the country or were sent to internment camps during the war. There were, in fact, some Japanese or Japanese-American actors in Hollywood before Pearl Harbor. It would be a while before they returned to regular employment in Hollywood after the war. But they did. Look up Tetsu Komai, Teru Shimada and Robert Okazaki.

[–] EdgarST 9 years ago

I never questioned Umeki's talent! But she does look too old for the part.