Thursday, December 13, 2012

Happy 80th Birthday Tatsuya Nakadai



Motohisa Nakadai was born on December 13, 1932 in Tokyo, Japan. Known to film fans all over the world as Tatsuya Nakadai he became one of a handful of Japanese actors well known outside Japan. Nakadai was working as a clerk in a Tokyo shop when director Masaki Kobayashi discovered him and cast him in “Kabe atsuki heya” (1953). Nakadai was then cast in the lead role in Kobayashi's monumental trilogy “Ningen no joken” and became a star whose international acclaim rivaled that of countryman Toshirô Mifune. Like Mifune, Nakadai worked frequently with director Akira Kurosawa and eventually replaced Mifune as Kurosawa's principal leading man after the well-known falling out between Mifune and Kurosawa. His appearances for Kurosawa in “Kagemusha” (1980) and “Ran” (1985) are among the most indelible in the director's filmography. Tatsuya appeared in one Euro-western as Elfego in “Today We Kill… Tomorrow We Die! (1968) along with Montgomery Ford (Brett Halsey). Today we celebrate Tasuya Nakadai’s 80th birthday.

2 comments:

  1. Babis Kofidhs - Legendary!

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  2. Tim Walker - Great actor. KAGEMUSHA. SWORD OF DOOM. I believe he was in Kurosawa's RAN too if I recall correctly. He was in a great horror movie called PORTRAIT OF HELL (JIGOKUHEN) which I heartily recommend. And in addition to TODAY WE KILL, TOMORROW WE DIE, he was great in a Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman) movie, I believe it was ZATOICHI AND THE FESTIVAL OF FIRE (movie #21- there were 26 alltogether plus the tv show). By the way, if you like spaghetti westerns, some of the Japanese swordfighting movies might appeal to you (especially Zatoichi). Remember A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS was a remake of YOJIMBO. Anyway, Happy Birthday Tatsuya!

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