Tsuru Aoki in a circa 1914-1916 publicity photograph

Tsuru Aoki (September 9, 1892 - October 18, 1961) was a popular Japanese-American stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki is possibly the first Asian actress to garner top-billing in American motion pictures. September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Image:Ericshinseki. ... A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ...

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Aoki emigrated to Los Angeles, California in 1903 with her aunt and uncle, who had previously owned the Imperial Theater of Japan. Aoki was later adopted by another uncle and relocated to San Francisco. Tokyo (東京; Tōkyō, lit. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Aoki began her acting career after returning to Los Angeles and performing in stage productions in the city's Japanese Theatre where she was noticed by film producer Thomas Ince who placed the young actress under contract. Aoko made her film debut in the Majestic film studios release The Oath of Tsuru San in 1913. Her follow-up film was the 1914 Ince produced O Mimi San, which starred the child actress Mildred Harris and a handsome young newcomer named Sessue Hayakawa who Aoki had previously acted with onstage at the Japanese Theatre the previous year. The couple began a romantic relationship that would culminate in their marriage on May 1, 1914; just weeks before the release of their critically acclaimed and publicly successful film The Wrath of the Gods - a melodrama about an interracial romance between a man portrayed by caucasian actor/director Frank Borzage and an Asian woman portrayed by Tsuru Aoki. The film also starred Sessue Hayakawa and featured actress Gladys Brockwell. Hayakawa and Aoki would eventually make more than twenty films together throughout the 1910s and 1920s. Thomas Harper Ince (November 6, 1882–November 20, 1924) was an American film director. ... Mildred Harris Mildred Harris (November 29, 1901 - July 20, 1944) was a notable actress of the silent screen era and first wife of acting legend Charlie Chaplin. ... Sessue Hayakawa (早川雪洲 Hayakawa Sessue, June 10, 1889 - November 23, 1973) was a Japanese actor in American films, including two in the U.S. National Film Registry: The Cheat in 1915 The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Frank Borgaze (April 23, 1893 - June 19, 1962) was an Italian-American film director famed for his mystical romanticism. ... Gladys Brockwell, (born September 26, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York; died July 2, 1929 in Hollywood, California) was an American actress. ...

Tsuru Aoki (right) with actor and husband Sessue Hayakawa in a screen shot of the 1919 film The Dragon Painter.

One of Aoki's most recalled films of the silent perod is the 1919 William Worthington directed The Dragon Painter, in which Aoko stars as a young woman named Ume-Ko who convinces a mentally dranged artist named Tatsu (portrayed by Hayakawa) to come down from the mountains so that she may civilize him and he may further his artistic abilities. Other notable films of the period were: The Typhoon (1914), The Vigil (1914), The Geisha (1914), The Chinatown Mystery (1915), His Birthright (1918} and Breath of the Gods (1920).

After a series of moderately successful Ince-produced two-reel serials, Tsuru Aoki's career in the United States began to falter (while her husband's career began to build momentum) and the couple travelled to France in 1923 and filmed the popular Édouard-Émile Violet directed drama La Bataille. After returning to America however, Aoko made only three more films before retiring from the screen to raise her and Hayakawa's two adopted children. Her last silent screen performance was the 1924 release The Danger Line.

Aoki would only return to the screen in 1960 (her first talkie) to once again appear with her husband in the drama Hell To Eternity. She died the following year while in Japan of acute peritonitis at the age of 69. A sound film (or talkie) is a motion picture with synchronized sound, as opposed to a silent movie. ...

References

• The Americanization of Tsuru Aoki: Orientalism, Melodrama, Star Image, and the New Woman by Sarah Ross. Duke Universitry Press, 2005. Camera Obscura 20(3 60):129-157; DOI:10.1215/02705346-20-3_60-129.

External links

• Tsuru Aoki at the Internet Movie Database
• Silent Era People
• New York Times Movies