Miyoshi Umeki dies at 78

Academy Award-winning actress Miyoshi Umeki died August 28 in Missouri. The Japanese actress got her start singing during the postwar occupation and worked in TV and radio in the U.S. before adding film to her resume. She was the first Asian to win an Oscar for acting, getting Supporting Actress honors in 1958’s Sayonara, and later received a Tony nomination for Flower Drum Song (directed by Gene Kelly) and a Golden Globe nomination for that musical’s film version. Umeki was 78.