Henry Okawa

Henry Okawa

Original Name ヘンリー大川
Birth Name Heihachiro Okawa (大川 平八郎)
Born September 9, 1905
Saitama, Japan
Died May 27, 1971 (65)

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 he 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.)

Post-war, 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.

Okawa can be seen as a Japanese officer running the labor camp in David Lean’s war film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); he’s the one accepting William Holden’s pocket watch at the beginning of the film.

Original Name ヘンリー大川
Birth Name Heihachiro Okawa (大川 平八郎)
Born September 9, 1905
Saitama, Japan
Died May 27, 1971 (65)

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 he 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.)

Post-war, 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.

Okawa can be seen as a Japanese officer running the labor camp in David Lean’s war film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); he’s the one accepting William Holden’s pocket watch at the beginning of the film.