|
Japanese leading actor Tatsuya Nakadai became a star after he was discovered working as a shop clerk by filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi during the 1950s. Kobayashi first casted him in The Thick Walled Room (1953). The slender Nakadai went on to star in the first of Kobayashi's "Human Condition" trilogy, Ningen no joken I (1959) and appeared in the subsequent sequels. Nakadai has worked with other great Japanese directors as well, including Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. First working with Kurosawa as a passing samurai in Shichinin no Samurai (1954) his second film, Nakadai later appeared opposite Toshiro Mifune in Yojinbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), and Heaven and Hell (1963). Later still, Nakadai contrasted Mifune again in Samurai Rebellion (1967), this time working with Kobayashi. Even more notable , Nakadai ascended to the heard of Kurosawa's acting stable with his remarkable portrayal of samurai warlord/thief in Kagemusha (1980) and later as a dying warlord in Ran (1985). Although in some regards Nakadai is probably still more well know for his roles in Seppuku (1962) and the first installment of the unfinished trilogy of Sword of Doom (1966). Save Mifune himself, Nakadai is the most well know Japanese Star outside Nihon.
|
