I recently happened to see a Marlon
Brando film, Sayonara, made in 1957. The
appearance of one of the Japanese characters caught
my attention. He seemed to be vaguely familiar...
somehow... but I just could not place him. There was
something familiar, yet very strange about his
appearance... and then it struck me - it was Ricardo
Montalban! I thought it was one of the most bizarre
pieces of casting I had ever seen: a Japanese character
named Nakamura being played by the Hispanic
Montalban. But then I recalled that Brando himself
had played a Japanese character in Teahouse of the
August Moon. In fact, Hollywood has a long history
of "whitewashing" minority roles. A few notable
examples - John Wayne playing Genghis Khan, Burt
Lancaster playing an Apache warrior, and Charlton
Heston playing a Mexican in Touch of Evil.
In older Hollywood films, this was routine
practice. It went hand in hand with the stereotypes
and denigration of racial minorities that were also
common. One of the most notorious examples was the
character of I.Y. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's as
played by Mickey Rooney. His buffoonish portrayal
has been described as "one of the most offensive
performances in the history of American movies".
That kind of blatant ethnic stereotyping is not as
common as it once was. Yet the issue of minority
roles being played by white actors remains a
contentious one. Even with films made in recent
years. Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001) was
actually of Latin heritage, but is played by Jennifer
Connelly in the film. In A Mighty Heart (2007)
Mariane Pearl, who is of mixed race, is played by
Angelina Jolie, who uses make-up to darken her skin.
Jake Gyllenhaal starred as the Prince of Persia
(2010).
One of the most outstanding cases in recent times
was the casting of Emma Stone as an AsianAmerican character in Cameron Crowe's film Aloha,
released in 2015. The criticism that this drew led
Crowe to offer an apology for the decision. It also led
Emma Stone to explore the issue more deeply. In a
later interview she said, “I’ve learned on a macro
level about the insane history of whitewashing in
Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is.
It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important.”
Ricardo Montalban in Sayonara (1957)
Charlton Heston as Miguel Vargas in
A Touch of Evil (1958)
Burt Lancaster as Massai in Apache (1954)