Sessue Hayakawa - Stardom

Stardom

Hayakawa's second film for Famous Players-Lasky was The Cheat, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The Cheat co-starring Fannie Ward, was a huge success, making Hayakawa a romantic idol to the female movie-going public. With his popularity Hayakawa's salary reached to over $5,000 a week in 1915. In 1917 he built his residence, a castle styled mansion, on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Argyle Street in Hollywood, which became a landmark until being torn down in 1956.

Following The Cheat Hayakawa became a top leading man for romantic dramas in the 1910s and early 1920s. After these roles he switched to Westerns and Action films.

After years of extensive typecasting at Famous Players, Hayakawa decided to form his own production company. He borrowed $1 million from William Joseph Connery, a former classmate at the University of Chicago, son of James Patrick Connery, who in turn was a former business partner of Will H. Hays of the Teapot Dome Scandal, and formed Haworth Pictures Corporation in 1918. Over the next three years he produced 23 films and netted $2 million a year. Hayakawa controlled the content. He produced, starred in, directed, and contributed to the design, writing, and editing of the films. His films influenced the way the American public viewed Asians.

In 1918 Hayakawa personally chose the American serial actress Marin Sais to appear opposite him in a series of films, the first being the 1918 racial drama The City of Dim Faces followed by His Birthright, which also starred his wife. Hayakawa's collaboration with Sais ended with the 1919 film Bonds of Honor. He also appeared opposite Jane Novak in The Temple of Dusk, a Mutual Film Corporation production.

In 1919 Hayakawa made the The Dragon Painter, appearing opposite his wife, actress Tsuru Aoki. During this period Hayakawa was one of the highest paid stars of the era, making $2 million a year through his production company throughout the 1920s. His fame rivaled that of Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and William S. Hart, and in many ways, he was a precursor to Rudolph Valentino.

Hayakawa drove a gold plated Pierce-Arrow and entertained lavishly in his "Castle" which was known as the scene of some of Hollywood's wildest parties. Shortly before Prohibition took effect in 1920, he bought a carload of booze. Hayakawa once claimed that he owed his social success to his liquor supply. During this time, in the course of one night he gambled away $1 million in Monte Carlo, shrugging off the loss while another Japanese gambler who lost a fortune committed suicide.