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Show ( ivjrP. EehitiS theScenes "Quincy's" lab tech - knows his stuff by Frank Farrefl "I didn't have to go to wardrobe, I already had my own white coat," says Robert Ito, the brilliant laboratory technician Sam Fujiyama on NBC-TV's hit series, "Quincy," which airs Wednesdays. "I had been playing Japanese medical technicians for five v years before the call to read for the 'Quincy' series came," Ito points out. "And I know that the role could be called stereotype, but pathology labs in Los Angeles are full of people who look like me," says Ito, continuing: continu-ing: "There are so many Japanese who are scientifically minded but can't get into medical -schools, so they become technicians, pharmacists pharm-acists and the like. And they are also damned good at what they I m do. KODert ito Ito didn't say it, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Ex-aminer is Japanese-born Dr. Thomas T. Noguchi. Jack Klugman, who stars in the series' title role, frequently consults Dr. Noguchi, and it is the L.A. County coroner's office that Quincy calls home base. Actually, Ito is a Canadian, born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Col-umbia. "I got my first taste of show business as a very small boy singing and dancing, and some people said I was a child prodigy," prod-igy," Ito recalls. But his progress hit a five-year snag when World War II broke out. "Our family was interned in a camp and we lost all of our property. And for the first year-and-a-half, there were no schools. After the war, instead of sending us back to Vancouver, the government sent us to Montreal," Ito says. With the war over, young Ito went back to dancing. He auditioned audi-tioned for and was accepted as a member of the National Ballet of Canada which gave him exposure on many Canadian TV programs. pro-grams. "I eventually went to New York and danced in the 'Flower Drum Song' on Broadway. That is when I met the late Larry Blyden who encouraged me to switch from dancing to acting. When the musical went on tour, Blyden held acting classes. "I soon realized that for the sake of my future, I'd better prepare for acting because dancers last only so long, but you can act forever. "I really enjoy the 'Quinc job, both because the show is a hit and because I feel the show is quality and often achieves constructive and informative results. Jack is proud of that too," says Ito, explaining: "We did a show about the abuse of the elderly that has accomplished a lot. We also did a show about a drug, colchicine, which kids could get through mail order and I which was good for growing marijuana. The catch was that the drug was harmful if taken internally and our show was instrumental in-strumental in getting mail order sales banned." |