I am saddened to report that James Shigeta has died at the age of 81. I am posting this here because Mr. Shigeta has a key role in the fan production "Yorktown" which should be released in the not-too-distant future. He was a great actor and had a voice that those of us who have worked in broadcasting can only envy. There will be plenty of obits, but one of the first is from Variety.
He was a terrific actor. I especially enjoyed him in FLOWER DRUM SONG and in an extremely eerie episode of THE OUTER LIMITS.
Damn. I grew up watching him in just about everything. He was one of those notable character actors who always brought a certain class to whatever role he was in. RIP and thanks for many years of entertainment.
This is very sad news. Stan Woo had just visited James Shigeta in LA a few months ago. He knew we were busy finishing the film. I had hoped he would have a chance to see it in the near future.
That is sad. His presence promises to give Yorktown a certain gravitas that most fan films (and a lot of commercial projects for that matter) don't have.
It was The Outer Limits' "Nightmare" where I first noticed James Shigeta, a fine actor. The episode also featured Martin Sheen in his first job after moving to California, as well as future Trek guests David Frankham, Whit Bissell, and John Anderson as the main Ebonite.
Sad news. Wasn't he also one of the engineers in TNG's first season? And a couple of characters in MASH? Damn, I know his name, but can't place him. I'm gonna have to go look him up. EDIT: Never mind. I just checked IMDB. I remember him now.
My mistake was that I confused him with the TNG character Jim Shimoda. The engineer from "The Naked Now".