Creator / Tatsuya Nakadai

Tatsuya Nakadai in Harakiri

Tatsuya Nakadai (born December 13, 1932 in Tokyo, Japan) is a legendary Japanese actor, and one of the most recognizable to Western audiences. He is known for playing a diverse range of roles, performing in drama, action and comedy films, theatre, television (and even anime) as a leading man and background character.

He was famously discovered by the then still im-prominent director Masaki Kobayashi, who chanced upon him while he was working as a shop clerk. Kobayashi offered him a role in The Thick-Walled Room^note Kabe atsuki heya which would be Tatsuya's film debut. It wasn't until Kobayashi's epic The Human Condition, however, that Tatsuya became a star - where his ability to play an internally tormented character awed Japanese audiences and directors alike.

Tatsuya is extremely prolific, having worked on films from the 1950s and still acting today. He is well known for playing Samurai and antagonists, especially with frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune (an equally legendary Japanese actor).

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Some of Tatsuya Nakadai's more well known works:

Film

• Black River^note Kuroi Kawa as Jo (1957)
• Enjo as Tokari (1958)
• The Human Condition^note Ningen no jôken as Kaji (1959)
• Odd Obsession^note Kagi as Kimura (1959)
• When a Woman Ascends the Stairs^note Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki as Kenichi Komatsu (1960)
• Yojimbo as Unosuke/Gunfighter (1961)
• Immortal Love^note Eien no hito as Heibei (1961)
• Sanjuro as Hanbei Muroto (1962)
• The Inheritance^note Karami-ai as Kikuo Furukawa (1962)
• Harakiri as Hanshiro Tsugumo (1962)
• High and Low^note Tengoku to jigoku as Chief Detective Tokura (1963)
• Kwaidan: segment "Yuki-Onna" as Minokichi (1964)
• The Sword of Doom^note Dai-bosatsu tôge as Ryunosuke Tsukue (1966)
• The Face of Another^note Tanin no kao as Mr. Okuyama (1966)
• Japan's Longest Day (1967), narrator
• Samurai Rebellion^note Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu as Tatewaki Asano (1967)
• Kill!^note Kiru as Genta (1968)
• Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die! as James Elfago (1968)
• Hitokiri as Hampeita Takechi (1969)
• Belladonna of Sadness as Satan (1973) (voice)
• Kagemusha as Takeda Shingen / Kagemusha (1980)
• Port Arthur as General Nogi (1980)
• Final Yamato^note Uchû senkan Yamato: Kanketsuhen as the narrator (1983)
• Ran as Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (1985)
• Hachikō Monogatari as Shujiro Ueno (1987)
• After the Rain as Tsuji Gettan (1999)
• Yamato as 75-year old Katsumi Kamio (shared role with Kenichi Matsuyama)
• Zatoichi: The Last as Tendo (2010)

Live-Action TV

• Shin Heike Monogatari as Taira no Kiyomori (1972)
• Hideyoshi as Sen no Rikyu (1996)
• Furin Kazan as Takeda Nobutora (2006)^note  This particular role is also a significant Casting Gag, as Nobutora is the father of Shingen, who he portrayed in Kagemusha

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