Heihachiro Okawa

Heihachiro Okawa (大川 平八郎, Ōkawa Heihachirō, September 9, 1905; Saitama, Japan – May 27, 1971; Seijo, Saitama {age 65} ), also sometimes credited as Henry Okawa (ヘンリー大川), was a Japanese film actor active from the 1930s to 1971. With hopes of starting a business, he traveled to the United States in 1923 and studied at Columbia University. He also studied at the Paramount Studios acting school and eventually began working in Hollywood, appearing in films by Howard Hawks and William Wellman. He returned to Japan in 1933 and co-starred in the Photo Chemical Laboratories (PCL) film Horoyoi jinsei. He later appeared in foreign films under the name Henry Okawa.
He is best known for Moyuru ōzora (1940), Dawn of Freedom (1944) Tokyo File 212 (1951), Floating Clouds (1955) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).
== Career ==
Okawa traveled to the United States in 1923 after graduating high school to study business. He studied at the University of Florida in Gainesville and afterwards lived in Atlanta and New York City. Out of curiosity he attempted to make tuition for Paramount’s newly opened actor school, but unfortunately the school was closed in only one year, so Okawa finished his studies at Columbia University studying economics.
In 1928, he moved to Hollywood to indulge his curiosity again, this time joining Fox and learning aerial acrobatics for Howard Hawks’ films, appearing in The Air Circus that year. He flew again for Hawks in The Dawn Patrol (1930). In 1933, Okawa returned to Japan to tend to his dying father. He joined PCL, which eventually became Toho Studios. Okawa appeared in propaganda films during the war, including one filmed in the Philippines. At the end of the war, Okawa served as interpreter for surrendering commander Tomoyuki Yamashita. (Yamashita was later found guilty of war crimes in the occupied Philippines and executed.)
In the post-war year, Okawa played numerous supporting characters for Toho films, including science fiction. He has prominent roles as an interpreter in The Mysterians (1957), an outspoken member of the UFO club in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), and as the yellow-jacketed scientist who deciphers the aliens’ remote control technology in Destroy All Monsters (1968). After 1957 he adopted the stage name “Henry Okawa.” In the late 60s, Okawa, along with fellow Turkish-born actor Osman Yusef, worked as interpreters for foreign actors working in Japanese film.
== Films ==
* All films on IMDB