Reiko Sato

Reiko Sato was an American dancer and actress who studied ballet at Los Angeles City College and worked in film, on Broadway, and in regional theater. Her best known role was the seamstress Helen Chao in Flower Drum Song (1961), and she also had a dramatic part in The Ugly American (1963). Under contract to Fox and Universal, little came of it and she retired from Hollywood. She created the Princess of Ababu in Kismet on Broadway and in the film, and took two roles in Destry Rides Again. In 1955 she played the female lead Lotus Blossom on the second national tour of The Teahouse of the August Moon opposite Larry Parks. A planned 1966 return to Broadway in the musical Chu Chem fell through when it was canceled during its Philadelphia tryout. In 1970 she performed in Hilo, Hawaii, with the Valentina Oumansky Dramatic Dance Ensemble, and her final film, Now It Can Be Told, was never finished.