Sessue Hayakawa

This photograph of Sessue Hayakawa captures the good looks and glamor of Hollywood’s first male sex symbol. While other silent film stars relied on emphatic gestures to convey emotion, Hayakawa developed a restrained style inspired by Zen Buddhism, Kabuki theater, and martial arts. Invariably cast as the seductive villain or forbidden lover, he grew frustrated with the stereotyping of Asian actors as “exotic.” After turning down the lead role in The Sheik (thus launching the career of Rudolph Valentino), he founded his own highly lucrative production company in 1918. Acting stints in France, England, and Japan expanded Hayakawa’s international fame, but his career declined in the 1930s with the advent of sound pictures and anti-Japanese sentiment. A revival of his fortunes after World War II brought his most memorable film role, as Colonel Saito in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).