Japanese singer, bit player Lane Nakano, 80
Posted: Tuesday, May 10th, 2005 2:28 pmLOS ANGELES — Lane Nakano, who co-starred in the 1951 film “Go For Broke!,” the dramatic story of the Japanese American soldiers who fought in Europe during World War II, has died. He was 80.
Nakano died April 28 after a long bout with emphysema, his family said.
He was a prominent singer in the Japanese American community in his native Los Angeles after World War II when “Go For Broke!” writer-director Robert Pirosh saw him perform and recruited him for the MGM movie.
Nakano, who had played a bit part as a rickshaw driver in the 1949 movie “Tokyo Joe,” found himself playing the lead Japanese American role of Sam in the film about the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team. … Read full obituary
