Miyoshi Umeki; Recorded American Pop Standards, Won Oscar for <cite>Sayonara</cite>
Miyoshi Umeki, 78, a Japanese-born singer and actress who became the first Asian performer to win an Academy Award—for <cite>Sayonara</cite> (1957)—and who played a housekeeper on the TV series <cite>The Courtship of Eddie's Father</cite>, died Aug. 28 at the Licking Park Manor nursing home in Licking, Mo. She had cancer.