Sidekicks: Tonto and Kato

As part of our mini series on sidekicks, we look at two characters that have travelled in parallel since they came out of the same radio station in the 1930s – Tonto and Kato. There wasn’t anything authentically Native American or Asian about these sidekicks, but that didn’t matter to the audiences who enjoyed their team-ups with The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. Embodying Tonto and Kato was a lot more challenging for the actors Jay Silverheels and Bruce Lee, who struggled to find humanity within the stereotypes, and respect behind the scenes. Featuring Dustin Tahmahkera of the University of Illinois, Chadwick Allen of the University of Washington, Daryl Maeda of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Zig Misiak author of “Tonto: The Man in Front of the Mask”, and Matthew Polly author of “Bruce Lee: A Life.”