Jack Soo

Jack Soo
Jack Soo in 1975.
Born	Goro Suzuki (1917-10-28)October 28, 1917 Pacific Ocean (see below) (raised in Oakland, California, U.S.)
Died	January 11, 1979(1979-01-11) (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Jack Soo (October 28, 1917 – January 11, 1979) was a Japanese American actor. He is best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom Barney Miller.

Biography

Early life

Jack Soo was born Goro Suzuki on a ship traveling from Japan to the United States in 1917. He lived in Oakland, California, and was caught up in the Japanese American internment during World War II. He was sent to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah; and fellow internees recalled him as a "camp favorite", an entertainer singing at dances and numerous events.

Soo's career as an entertainer began in earnest at the end of the war, first as a stand-up nightclub performer primarily in the Midwestern United States. During his years playing the nightclub circuit, he met and became friends with future Barney Miller producer Danny Arnold, who was also a performer at the time.

Career

Soo finally earned his big break in 1958 when he was cast in the Broadway musical hit Flower Drum Song in the role of the show M.C. and comedian Frankie Wing ("Gliding through my memoree"). He was working in San Francisco at the Forbidden City, a Chinese nightclub and cabaret, which was portrayed in the musical and movie. He was offered the chance to go to Broadway on the condition that he change his name to something Chinese, as Flower Drum Song is set in San Francisco's Chinatown. At that time, he adopted the surname that he had used to leave the internment camp at Topaz, "Soo." Jack switched to the Sammy Fong role (Chinatown's "Nathan Detroit") during the run and played the role when the film version (1961) of the musical was made.

Jack was first broadcast across America by Jack Benny on November 27, 1962, as the street-wise talent agent in "Jack Meets Japanese Agent". In 1964, Soo played an important weekly supporting role as a poker-playing con artist in Valentine's Day, a one-season comedy television series starring Tony Franciosa. During the next decade, he would appear in films such The Green Berets as an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) Colonel and the 1967 musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as making guest appearances on TV shows such as Hawaii Five-O, The Odd Couple, and two episodes of M*A*S*H.

Soo joined Motown Records in 1965 as one of their first non-African American artists. During his time there, he recorded a slow ballad version of "For Once in My Life" as the first male singer to do so. The record was never released and was shelved in the Motown archives. The song was soon after made famous by Stevie Wonder.

Soo was cast in his most memorable role in 1975 on the ABC sitcom Barney Miller as the laid-back, but very wry, Detective Nick Yemana, who was responsible for making the dreadful coffee the entire precinct had the misfortune to drink every day.

Soo refused to play roles that were demeaning to Asian Americans and often spoke out against negative ethnic portrayals.

Death

Soo was diagnosed with esophageal cancer during Barney Miller's fifth season (1978–79). The cancer spread quickly, and Soo died on January 11, 1979 at age 61. His last appearance on the show was in the episode entitled "The Vandal," which aired on November 9, 1978.

Because his character (and Soo himself) was so beloved, producers created a special retrospective episode showing clips of his best moments, which aired at the end of the season. The most poignant moment of the show came at the end, when the cast members raised their coffee cups in a final farewell toast to the late actor.

Soo's last words (and the last words in the episode "The Vandal") came after being given a truly thankless chore by Captain Miller (which Nick always seemed to be the beneficiary of in the series), Barney senses Nick's desire to complain and invites him to do so. On the wall, in the background during the entire episode is a spray-painted obscenity aimed at Captain Miller courtesy of the vandal (and which everyone feels the need to comment on during the episode). Nick, having been given the open invitation by Barney for a retort, glances at the obscenity on the wall and then simply says to Barney: "I have nothing to add".

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1961	Flower Drum Song	Samuel Adams 'Sammy' Fong
1963	Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?	Yoshimi Hiroti
1966	The Oscar	Sam
1967	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Oriental No. 1
1968	The Green Berets	Col. Cai
1978	Return from Witch Mountain	Mr. Yokomoto
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	The Jack Benny Program	Himself	Episode: Jack Meets a Japanese Agent
1964	Valentine's Day	Rockwell Sin
1965	The Wackiest Ship in the Army	Shiru	Episode: Shakedown
1966	Summer Fun	Sidney	Episode: Pirates of Flounder Bay
1968, 1971	Julia	Tree Man Judge Warren wazaku	Episode: I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas Episode: Courting Time
1969	The Monk	Hip Guy	ABC TV-Movie
1970	Hawaii Five-O	Sam Quong	Episode: The One with the Gun
1971	The Name of the Game	Sergeant George Kwan	Episode: The Man Who Killed a Ghost
	The Jimmy Stewart Show	Woodrow Yamada	Episode: Pro Bono Publico Episode: Cockadoodle Don't
1972	The Odd Couple	Chuk Mai Chin	Episode: Oscar's Promotion
1972, 1975	M*A*S*H	Charlie Lee Quoc	Episode: To Market, To Market Episode: Payday
1973	She Lives!	Dr. Osikawa	ABC TV-Movie
1974	Ironside	Joe Lee Joe Lee Sing-Ho	Episode: Amy Prentiss (1) Episode: Amy Prentiss (2) Episode: The Over-the-Hill Blues
1974, 1975	Police Story	Tai'ske Bruce Chan Bruce Chan	Episode: The Hunters Episode: Year of the Dragon (1) Episode: Year of the Dragon (2)
1975	Police Woman	Red Star	Episode: The Bloody Nose
1975–1979	Barney Miller	Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana
1977	Busting Loose	Hoofat	Episode: House of Noodles

External links

• SFIAAFF 2009: YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (THE JACK SOO STORY) — Interview WithJeff Adachi
• You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story (2009)
• Jack Soo at IMDb
• Jack Soo at Find a Grave