there, because unless there was a role that was written for an Asian-American, he would not be considered. And that's the tragedy here," explains Jeff Adachi, San Francisco's elected public defender who interviewed Shigeta for The Slanted Screen.

A Pioneer Who 'Led The Way'

In the documentary, which Adachi wrote, directed and produced, Shigeta recalled an exchange he had early in his career with an MGM producer who told him, "If you were white, you'd be a hell of a big star." Shigeta, who was born in what was then the Territory of Hawaii to a family of Japanese descent, said that encounter was "the first time that [he] had some kind of a clue as to the fact that there might be some discrimination out there."

"It's a very difficultbusiness. It's a constant struggle even if you're not Asian," says actress Nancy Kwan, who co-starred with Shigeta in Flower Drum Song. "He was a pioneer. He led the way."

Shigeta leaves behind a career on screen that lasted half a century. He had smaller, supporting parts in Die Hard and in television series like Hawaii Five-O. But in his earliest movies, he often got top billing and the girl. And for an Asian-American actor, that's a benchmark still remarkable today.