Dale Ishimoto Explained

Dale Ishimoto
Birth Date:3 April 1923
Birth Place:Delta, Colorado, U.S.
Death Place:Culver City, California, U.S.
Years Active:1957–1998
Spouse:Miiko Taka (m. 1944; div. 1958)

Dale Ishimoto (April 3, 1923 – March 4, 2004) was an American actor of Japanese descent. He was born in Delta, Colorado in 1923 and was raised in Guadalupe, California.[1]

Military service

After being sent to the Gila River internment camp in Arizona,[2] Ishimoto volunteered to fight in World War II, joining the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After two years, he was awarded a Purple Heart and given a medical discharge.[3]

Entertainment career

After starting a business in Chicago, he moved back to California, where he grew up, and started his acting career by acting at the Altadena Playhouse. He became a "familiar figure" for playing "villainous Japanese soldiers".[3]

Over the course of his career, he acted in a wide variety of movies, such as a Japanese army captain in Beach Red (1967), a Korean doctor in MASH (1970), a karate instructor in Superchick (1973), and as Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya in Midway (1976).

He became known in the late 1990s for his appearances in television commercials for Nissan in which he portrayed Yutaka Katayama, the company's former president.[4] He also appeared in one episode of Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Personal life

Ishimoto married Miiko Taka in Baltimore in 1944,[5] and they had two children: a son and a daughter. They divorced in 1958.[6]

Filmography

Selected television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962Have Gun - Will TravelTemuchin - Paladin's Fencing InstructorEpisode "The Mark of Cain"
1962-63McHale's NavyJapanese Officer3 Episodes
1961Wanted Dead or AliveTaro YamamotoSeason 3, Episode 24 "The Long Search"

Notes and References

  1. News: Shearer . John . Question? . . A2 . 1997-07-20.
  2. Web site: Japanese American Internee Data File: Dale Ishimoto. National Archives and Records Administration. 2019-08-18.
  3. News: Scott . John L. . Japanese Actor No Longer Villain . . C1 . October 3, 1967.
  4. News: Elliot . Stuart . Nissan exults over an offbeat campaign, despite flat sales and a debate on ads that 'entertain.' . . A2 . 1997-08-14.
  5. News: Actress Miiko Taka of Movies Wins Divorce. Los Angeles Times. November 18, 1958. B1.
  6. News: Miiko Taka Gets Divorce . The New York Times. November 17, 1958.