It may be hard to believe, but there was once a time when Hollywood would routinely turn to non-Asian actors to portray Asian characters in films.
Often, these “yellow face” performances both reinforced and embodied all the negative stereotypes — funny accent, slanted eyes, buck teeth, and enough “Orientalism” to send the yellow fever meter through the roof.
For those too young to know this history or those wanting to take a walk down memory lane, here are the 25 “yellow face” film performances (so no David Carradine in Kung Fu unless the long-rumored film version gets made) that have arguably had the most impact on our cultural landscape.
And if you think “yellow face” existed only in the non-P.C. past, note that three of the entries are from this year.
Continue to the Gallery… | 25 – 21 | 20 – 16 | 15 – 11
Next Week: The Top 10
I bet John Wayne as Genghis Khan in the Conquerer makes the top ten. He says of Bortai (Susan Hayward), “I want that Tarter princess. My blood says take her.”
William Conrad as Kasar, getting stuck in a window, says something to the effect, “Ahh, my brawn betrays me.”
That whole cast could fill the top 25. The only lighthearted sense to this film, is that it is also rated the worst movie ever made, and the dialogue could not be written funnier it is so bad.
The pictures of Eddie Murphy and Ricardo Montalban are NOT from the roles mentioned in the article. The Eddie Murphy one is the right movie, at least…
…However, I do remember an old movie version of Shakespeare’s Othello in which the lead role was played by a caucasian. Of course, I am not sure whether that character, the Moor of Venice, was actually acknowledged as black in those days…
Dear Bonnie–Traditional the role of Othello has been played by a caucasian actor in “blackface.” The most famous film version is probably the 1965 one with Laurence Olivier in “blackface.” The first Black actor to play the role on film was Laurence Fishburne in the 1995 version. On stage, there was an interesting take on Broadway a few years back where Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard on STAR TREK) played Othello not in “blackface” but the rest of the cast was African American so it was a reversal of the standard roles.
Last year my dad lent me this mult-tape mini-series called, “Reilly, Ace of Spies” starring Sam Neil. It was a pretty low budget BBC series that tried to tell the story of this fascinating double-agent who influenced the Russian Revolution. He had many identities and contacts in Russia, China, Japan, Germany, America and Britain and was able to escape death countless times, and nearly succeeded in getting a secretly western supported Russian group to overthrow Stalin in the 1920s until Uncle Joe got a hold of him. Some of Reilly’s career was spent in China, and I was really annoyed that in 1983, they still had English actors portraying some of the Chinese and Japanese military leaders, such as Richard Rees as Captain Tanaka; while at the same time, they cast Asian actors Robert Lee, Andy Ho, Anthony Chinn and Jacqui Chan in specified Asian roles. And yes, Rees role had more depth than was given the other characters. I would expect that in 1953 but not 1983. The China chapter of the story seemed to be a little more shallow than the layers and layers of intrigue from the European episodes. Let’s hope someone remakes this epic story again and does it right.
Charlie Chan and Mickey Rooney’s character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” must be in the Top 10.
Actually, there was a movie version of Kung Fu (starring David Carradine) before there was a TV show of the same name. If Carradine’s portrayal of Caine was omitted from this list solely due to the mistaken belief that Kung Fu (sith David Carradine in yellowface) was never a movie, then it should be added to the list after all.
Yul Brynner (King & I), Khigh Dhiegh (The Manchurian Candidate), and Akim Tarmiroff (The General Died At Dawn)should all be runner-ups at least. And wasn’t David Carradine in Kill Bill 2 still supposed to be Asian or part-Asian?
GCH–There has not been a theatrical version of KUNG FU (though one is in development). The movie you’re referring to is a TV movie that ran in Feb. 22 which served as the “backdoor” pilot for the TV series (the movie did well so the network ordered it as a series). The choices on this list are for theatrical films only so sorry but David Carradine is still out. And although Tarantino cast Carradine in the KILL BILL movies partly because of his KUNG FU past and its iconic stature, his character in those films is not Asian.
Sorry, meant to say the KUNG FU TV movie aired on Feb 22, 1972.
I agree with all of them except for the Balls of Fury one. I think that role was meant to be a parody of “parody” in the sense that it’s a parody of yellow-face. I think it’s supposed to be ridiculous because Walken in no way looks Asian or acts Asian. He only has an Asian name and clothes in the film (and of course, if you noticed in the film, everything Asian in his household was generic: Chinese, Japanese, etc stuff was in his house).
A similar yellow-face parody was also in Grindhouse if anyone saw that. In Werewolf Women of the SS fake trailer by Rob Zombie… “Starring Nicholas Cage as… FU MANCHU!” I actually laughed as again, Nicholas Cage looks nothing like an Asian guy… Fu Manchu was a notorious example of yellow-face too no?
By the way I’m half Vietnamese half White so you know where I’m coming from and I agree abt the Asian prejudice deal (my mom’s first generation and my dad is like 4th generation or so). I have TONS o’ stories, like some Jamaican woman yelling at Viet fishmonger for “not speaking English.” I wanted to say “Wtf… why are you yelling at him. I understand him clearly… anyways your English is as bad as his…”
Anyhoo… if that Neon Genesis Evangelion Live-Action film gets made I hope most of the actors are Asian or at least part Asian. I would think that would be a big step forward for Asian actors in America. (There was a lot of talk of turning the characters white. The huge worldwide fanbase immediately shot that down… lots of angry fanboys/girls emailing WETA… LOL.)
I’m surprised that Andy Rooney’s character from Breakfast at Tiffany’s isn’t on the list. His performance marred what was otherwise a great movie.
Just Me–I think you mean Mickey Rooney and if you look at the whole list, you’ll see his performance in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S is #2 on the list so he’s represented.
Phil C., I stand corrected.
I was surprised not to see Rex Harrison’s portrayal of the King in 1946′s “Anna and the King of Siam” on the list.
What about “Teahouse of the August Moon” starring Marlon Brando as the monkey-like trickster side kick to the Colonel. I think his character was Sakini or something like that.
I agree with GMC – Rex Harrison in “Anna and the King of Siam” deserves to be on the list, right next to Mickey Rooney.
I always kind of liked the Caine character in the 1970s Kung Fu. He may not be asian but he did a good job – minimalist, respectful. He wasn’t a shrieking racist halfwit like Mickey Rooney.
Please take Christopher Walken off of the list, because he wasn’t in yellowface. I’m also Asian too before accusals of racism.
@Wong — I’d have to disagree about Yul Brenner in the King and I. While he was not Thai, he was indeed Asian, being from Mongolia (which explains the cool accent that was one of his distinguishing characteristics), so one could more appropriately argue that he spent much of his career being white-faced rather than argue that he was yellow-facing in the King and I.