Frank Tokunaga Explained
Frank Tokunaga |
Birth Name: | Frank B. Tokunaga |
Birth Place: | Japan |
Occupation: | Actor, director, screenwriter |
Spouse: | Komako Sunada |
Frank B. Tokunaga was a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter who worked in Japan and Hollywood.[1]
Biography
Career
Tokunaga began his career in show business in 1912 while managing a troupe of Japanese acrobats for Barnum & Bailey, and later worked as an actor in Broadway productions.[2]
Tokunaga then began working at Thomas H. Ince's motion picture studio in Santa Monica, before taking on roles for Louis B. Mayer and then joining Universal's stock company.[3] He did all sorts of work during the silent era, often serving as an interpreter and a location man.[4]
For a time, Tokunaga returned to Japan, where he was a pioneering writer and director at Nikkatsu Studios. Later on in his career, he would return to the United States sporadically to work as a character actor in Hollywood films.
Personal life
Tokunaga was married to Komako Sunada, an actress who was known as the Japanese answer to Mary Pickford in the press. (She was born in Japan but raised in Los Angeles.)[5] [6] The pair collaborated on a pair of screenplays: 1925's Tôyô no Karumen and 1926's Zoku Tôyô no Karumen.
Selected filmography
As director:
- Keiba to nyobo (1932)
- Oira no sekai (1932)
- Asu no taiyô (1931)
- Hanamuko hyakumanryô (1931)
- Shonen senshu (1931)
- Kane wa tenka no mawari mochi (1931) (also screenwriter)
- Hikari wa higashiyori (1930)
- Koi no sutoppu mamanranu (1930) (also screenwriter)
- Shisei no kagayaki (1930)
- Taiyo no kokoro (1930)
- Chichi (1929)
- Shuressha (1929)
- Akai hi aoi hi (1929) (also screenwriter)
- Kokoro naki miyako (1927)
- Chiriyuku joka (1926)
- Danshi Tokkan (1926)
- Ganto no nazo (1926)
- Rôchû no uguisu (1926)
- Seigi banzai (1926)
- Zoku Tôyô no Karumen (1926)
- Ai ni kagayaku josei (1925)
- Wakodo no chi wa odoru (1925)
- (1925)
- Tôyô no Karumen (1925) (also screenwriter)
- Ai no himitsu (1924)
As actor:
Notes and References
- Book: The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Anderson. Joseph I.. Anderson. Joseph L.. Richie. Donald. 1982. Princeton University Press. 9780691007922. en.
- Web site: Film Director Plays Farmer in Picture. 11 Dec 1956. The Gazette. en. 2019-11-09.
- Web site: Tokunaga at Home in Hollywood. 19 Aug 1956. The Arizona Republic. en. 2019-11-10.
- Book: Motography. 1916. en.
- Web site: Schoolgirl Wins Crown and Japan Director. 13 May 1927. The New York Daily News. en. 2019-11-10.
- Web site: Japanese Movie Star Arrives. 31 May 1927. The Marion Star. en. 2019-11-09.