Miyoshi Umeki was a Japanese-American actress and singer who smashed prejudices when she became the first Asian actress to win an Oscar. Then she smashed expectations when she threw it in the bin.

Miyoshi Umeki, 78, a Japanese-born singer and actress who became the first Asian performer to win an Academy Award -- for "Sayonara" (1957) -- and who played a housekeeper on the TV series "The ...