Colleagues pay tribute to the late actor Mako at VC FilmFest.

Photos by GWEN MURANAKA/Rafu Shimpo
Photos of Mako throughout his career are on display as part of a tribute to the actor held Sunday in Little Tokyo.

It was time for one final curtain call and a standing ovation for Mako, the actor and pioneering force behind the emergence of Asian Americans in the performing arts. Last Sunday at the Aratani Japan America Theatre, friends and colleagues gathered to pay tribute through film, photos and music to the actor, who passed away last July. The program was presented as part of the VC FilmFest by Visual Communications in collaboration with East West Players and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center.

His daughters Sala and Mimosa Iwamatsu participated in the tribute. Sala lovingly remembered her father as the one who taught her how to slow dance and shared his love of theater.

“As Ilook out into this theater, know he would be pleased. He was an artist, always in pursuit of the truth. Even in the face of his own death, he was curious and excited to see what it was all about,” said.

A film retrospective showcased Mako’s wide range of roles from early appearances in the 1960s TV series “The Green Hornet,” roles in major box office films such as “Conan the Barbarian,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Memoirs of a Geisha” and work in Asian American films such as “Hito Hata.” Mako received an Academy Award nomination for best support­ing actor for the 1966 film “The Sand Pebbles”and a Tony nomination for the 1976 musical “Pacific Overtures.”

“I can honestly say I would not be here. I would not have a 27-year career in theater had it not been for Mako and his extended family,” said playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, whose film “The Wash” was shown as part of the tribute.

Gotanda, playwright David Henry Hwang (“M Butterfly”), actor John Cho (“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle”), VC founder Robert Naka­mura and Janet Mitsui Brown, Mako’s administrator at EWP, participated in a panel that assessed his legacy.

His friends fondly remembered Mako as being blunt and direct; a pas­sionate performer who liked to drink Budweiser with the guys at the old East West Players Theatre on Sunset Blvd. and gave his time freely to young actors and writers. In a scene from the film tribute, Mako sang the Frank Sinatra standard “My Way,” at EWP’s 30th anniversary dinner. He was to return to the EWP stage last year before falling ill with esophageal cancer.

“I remember a time where he taught me how to act in one moment,” Cho said, recalling his appearance at East West Players in “The Taste of Kona Coffee,” directed by Mako.

“He was directing and he went down to the stage and started acting, but not in a way that had previously thought about it. Without saying any­thing he was just behaving. And it was an epiphany of sorts for me. Ev­erything else knew was just bull----. He taught me to be in the scene and everything else, someone else will take care of,” Cho said.

Nakamura, who directed Mako in “Hito Hata” and “Fool’s Dance,” said they met at a time in the early days when Visual Communications and East West Players were both on Sunset.

“I have this Asian allergy so don’t drink beer, drank a lot of coffee and he drank a lot of beer,” recalled Na­kamura. “Both of us at the time were forming organizations and working with people. Looking back I think we were all part of an Asian American movement.

“It’s interesting, bringing this back to Mako, we know him as an artist, actor, mentor. He was also an institu­tion builder. He and the other six who founded East West really impacted us all as a community.”

Hwang, whose newest play “Yel­low Face” is being staged at the Mark Taper Forum, credited Mako with giv­ing him his first break and introducing him to John Lone, who would star in his Tony-winning play “M Butterfly.” Noting the emergence of Asian Ameri­can talent in Hollywood, Hwang said Mako’s impact is felt worldwide.

“I don’t think Hollywood realized at that moment how important that the international market was going to be­come to their bottom line. The whole matrix of influences and impulses have benefited so many people, some of whom we like, some of whom we don’t like, but that doesn’t even matter,” noted Hwang. “It’s just had a huge impact on media and how Asians are portrayed around the world.”