Isao Sato (actor)

Isao Sato (佐藤 功, Satō Isao) was a Japanese born theater actor. He was born in Tokyo on June 27, 1949, and attended the Keio University, where he studied law.[1] While in Japan, he was a member of the Shiki Theatre Company.[2] His Broadway debut was in the original all-Asian cast of Pacific Overtures in 1976 where he played Kayama. He was the only non-American member of the cast — in fact, he came to America specifically to audition for this role, after having missed the Tokyo auditions for the musical. Once he was cast, he emigrated to America.[3] Reviews for the show were mixed, but Sato received praise for his performance.[4] He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1976, but lost to Sammy Williams of A Chorus Line.[5] His voice can be heard on the cast recording of Pacific Overtures.[6] In 1979, he played several roles in the play Fanshen about the Chinese Communist Revolution at the ACT Theatre in Seattle.[7] He later played Wenqing in Peking Man, a play by Cao Yu at the Horace Mann Theater in New York City in 1980.[8] At the Perry Street Theater in New York City, he acted in Dick Brukenfeld's historical drama Extenuating Circumstances, wherein an American man is accused of killing a young Chinese girl in Canton, China in 1821.[9]

Later in his career, he appeared on television in the show Spenser: For Hire on the episode "My Brother's Keeper", where he was reunited with his Pacific Overtures castmate Mako Iwamatsu.[10] In 1987, he played the scientist in Penn & Teller's TV movie "Invisible Thread".[11]

While touring the West coast with Pacific Overtures, he met his wife Janice Kanemitsu, who was a dancer on the tour. They were married on October 17, 1976 and divorced in 1979.[12]

Sato pursued a second career as a flight instructor and was an instructor at Crest One Flight Academy in Florida. He died in a plane crash in Miramar, Florida on March 9, 1990. The Cessna he was in was flown by his student and collided with a banner plane. He was 40 years old.[13]