Pioneering Asian American actor Sessue Hayakawa became an instant matinee idol in 1915 with De Mille's The Cheat, and he continued to act in films both in Hollywood and Europe well into the sixties. He died a Zen priest in 1973 at the age of 83. The Cheat was one of the most visually sophisticated and elegant silent films ever made, benefiting from Hayakawa's economical use of gesture. But it was above all the first modern film in terms of its sexually charged content, and was initially banned in several states. A society lady (Fanny Ward) gambles away Red Cross funds and borrows from a wealthy Japanese (Hayakawa) on the implied promise of becoming his mistress. This she refuses, and he brands her with a red-hot iron from his collection. Retribution, honor preserved-these themes follow, but not precisely as one might expect. If the character of the Asian became itself a "brand"-a source of sexual menace at once feared and desired-it is to Hayakawa's credit that his later efforts as a producer worked to counter the stereotyped roles he was given as an actor. The film was condemned by the Japanese American community and prints from 1918 on changed the Hayakawa character to a Burmese.