Biography
Kyoto-born Miko Mayama graced the screen for a few years from 1965, typically cast as decorative Japanese or Chinese girls in popular TV fare like I Spy (1965), F Troop (1965), Ironside (1967), Hawaii Five-O (1968) and Mannix (1967). On a cult level, she is perhaps best known as the red-shirted Yeoman Tamura, a member of the Enterprise landing party to Eminiar VII in the Star Trek (1966) episode 'A Taste of Armageddon'.
In 1968, while working in Japan with a Kabuki theatre troupe, Miko caught the eye of Burt Reynolds, on his way to the Philippines to star in Impasse (1969), a yarn involving soldiers-of-fortune seeking a cache of gold bars hidden by the army during World War II. Reynolds promptly hired Miko for the part of Mariko, his on-screen mistress. A closer personal relationship soon developed, the couple returning to the U.S. where they ended up living together from 1968 until 1971. The year after appearing in Impasse, Miko was cast in a similar role as Fumiko, the mistress of hard-boiled plantation owner Whipple Hoxworth (Charlton Heston) in the epic drama The Hawaiians (1970), based on James A. Michener's novel
Privately, things were going well for Burt and Miko until 1971, when the actor met his new flame, the TV show host, singer and actress Dinah Shore. The inevitable break-up resulted in a settlement for Miko, which included a beach apartment, Burt's Cadillac and a $500 weekly allowance. She was later briefly married to Martin Erlichman, Barbra Streisand's long-standing manager.
Miko's final role of note was in a season seven episode of M*A*S*H (1972), as Sun Pak, the daughter of an ailing Korean ex-cavalry officer, reduced by circumstances to doing laundry for the 4077th.
