Product Code Database
Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki, October 28, 1917 – January 11, 1979) was an American actor and singer. He was best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom Barney Miller.
He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in English. He lived in Oakland until ordered into internment along with other Japanese Americans during World War II and in the wake of the passage of Executive Order 9066. He was sent to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah. His fellow internees recalled him as a "camp favorite," an entertainer singing at dances and numerous events.
His big break occurred in 1958 when he was cast in the Broadway theatre musical hit Flower Drum Song in the role of the show MC and comedian Frankie Wing ("Gliding through my memoree"). Soo had been working in San Francisco at the Forbidden City, a Chinese nightclub and cabaret, where he was discovered by the actor and dancer Gene Kelly who was directing the Flower Drum Song. Soo switched to the Sammy Fong role (Chinatown's "Nathan Detroit") during the run and reprised the role when the film version (1961) of the musical was made.
Soo’s first nationwide TV appearance was on The Jack Benny Program on November 27, 1962, as the tough-talking, street-wise talent agent in "Jack Meets Japanese Agent". In 1964, Soo played a weekly supporting role as Rocky Sin, a poker-playing con artist in Valentine's Day, a comedy television series starring Anthony Franciosa that lasted for one season. During the next decade, he appeared in films such as The Green Berets as a colonel of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the 1967 musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as making guest appearances on TV shows such as Hawaii Five-O, The Odd Couple, and on two episodes of M*A*S*H.
Soo joined Motown Records in 1965 as one of their first non-African-American musicians. During his time there, he recorded a slow ballad version of "For Once in My Life" as the first male singer to do so. The record was never released and was shelved in the Motown archives. The song was soon after made famous by Stevie Wonder.
Soo was cast in his most memorable role in 1975 on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller. He had met and befriended the show's producer Danny Arnold years earlier while working the nightclub circuit. Arnold was also a performer at the time. In the series, Soo played the laid-back, but very wry, Detective Nick Yemana, who was responsible for making the dreadful coffee that, in one of the series' running jokes, his fellow detectives had to drink every day. Occasionally, his character played against stereotypes of Asian Americans by emphasizing Yemana's solidly American background.
Soo refused to perform in roles that demeaned Asian Americans. He often spoke out against negative ethnic portrayals and was adamant about being recognized as an American.
A running joke on the show was that Yemana made bad coffee.In one episode, Yemena claimed that he used rainwater that dripped through the ceiling of the station house, which "filters out the impurities". (Ron Glass can be seen in the background of the scene, breaking up.) "It must have been my coffee," Soo joked when he was being wheeled into surgery. A retrospective episode showing clips of Soo aired on the last episode of season 5. The episode included castmates as themselves, giving personal memories of Soo, the actor. It concluded with all raising their coffee cups in a final farewell toast to him.
Filmography
1961 Flower Drum Song Samuel Adams 'Sammy' Fong 1963 Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Yoshimi Hiroti 1966 The Oscar Sam 1967 Thoroughly Modern Millie Ching Ho / Oriental No. 1 1968 The Green Berets Col. Cai 1978 Return from Witch Mountain Mr. "Yo-Yo" Yokomoto 1962 The Jack Benny Program Himself Episode: Jack Meets a Japanese Agent 1964 Valentine's Day Rockwell 'Rocky' Sin Main cast (34 episodes) 1965 The Wackiest Ship in the Army Shiru Episode: Shakedown 1966 Summer Fun Sidney Episode: Pirates of Flounder Bay 1968–1971 Julia Tree Man
Judge Warren wazakuEpisode: I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas
Episode: Courting Time1969 The Monk Hip Guy ABC TV-Movie 1970 Hawaii Five-O Sam Quong 1971 The Name of the Game Sergeant George Kwan Episode: The Man Who Killed a Ghost The Jimmy Stewart Show Woodrow Yamada Episode: Pro Bono Publico
Episode: Cockadoodle Don't1972 The Odd Couple Chuk Mai Chin 1972–1975 M*A*S*H Charlie Lee
QuocEpisode: To Market, to Market
Episode: Payday1973 She Lives! Dr. Osikawa ABC TV-Movie 1974 Ironside Joe Lee
Joe Lee
Sing-HoEpisode: Amy Prentiss (1)
Episode: Amy Prentiss (2)
Episode: The Over-the-Hill Blues1974–1975 Police Story Tai'ske
Bruce Chan
Bruce ChanEpisode: The Hunters
Episode: Year of the Dragon (1)
Episode: Year of the Dragon (2)1975 Police Woman Red Star Episode: The Bloody Nose 1975–1979 Barney Miller Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana Main cast (101 episodes), (final appearance) 1977 Busting Loose Hoofat Episode: House of Noodles
External links
Categories: 1917 Births, 1979 Deaths, 20th-century American Male Actors, American Male Actors Of Japanese Descent, American Male Singers, American Singers Of Asian Descent, Burials At Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Deaths From Esophageal Cancer In California, Japanese-american Internees, Male Actors From Oakland, California, People Born At Sea, University Of California, Berkeley Alumni
|
|
