Born in Tokyo to the son of a famous kabuki actor, Kinnosuke became one of the biggest stars in post-war Japanese cinema. Beginning with his first film in the early 1950s, Kinnosuke worked almost exclusively for Toei Studios during the decade, completing over 80 films, an average of over 13 a year.
By the start of the 1960s, Kinnosuke was a certified movie star and one of the top contract actors at Toei. Some of his highlights of the decade include a monumental five-film series based on the life of Mushashi Miyamoto, directed by Uchida Tomu; Gosha Hideo’s cult classics, Secret of the Urn and Gyokin; Inagaki Hiroshi’s final film, the star-studded Incident at Blood Pass; and the Golden Bear winning Bushido zankoku monogatari (Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai).
When Bushido premiered in 1963, he was only 30 years old and it was already his 109th film. After the film won the Golden Bear at Berlin, Kinnosuke only worked with Tadashi once more, on 1964’s Adauchi (Revenge… read more
Born in Tokyo to the son of a famous kabuki actor, Kinnosuke became one of the biggest stars in post-war Japanese cinema. Beginning with his first film in the early 1950s, Kinnosuke worked almost exclusively for Toei Studios during the decade, completing over 80 films, an average of over 13 a year.
By the start of the 1960s, Kinnosuke was a certified movie star and one of the top contract actors at Toei. Some of his highlights of the decade include a monumental five-film series based on the life of Mushashi Miyamoto, directed by Uchida Tomu; Gosha Hideo’s cult classics, Secret of the Urn and Gyokin; Inagaki Hiroshi’s final film, the star-studded Incident at Blood Pass; and the Golden Bear winning Bushido zankoku monogatari (Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai).
When Bushido premiered in 1963, he was only 30 years old and it was already his 109th film. After the film won the Golden Bear at Berlin, Kinnosuke only worked with Tadashi once more, on 1964’s Adauchi (Revenge). Over the course of the decade, he appeared in almost 50 films.
During the 1970s, Kinnosuke split his time between television and film. His most notable small screen work was the hit Japanese television series Lone Wolf and Cub, playing Ogami Itto from 1973-1976. At the end of the decade he appeared in two Fukasaku Kinji films, Ako-Jo danzetsu (Swords of Vengeance) and Yagyu ichizoku no inbo (The Shogun’s Samurai).
His last film was 1989’s Sen no Rikyu (Death of a Tea Master). During the 90s, he appeared in a handful of television dramas, culminating in an appearance on the Japanese television series Kanpani (Company) in 1996. A year later, he died from pneumonia at age 64.
By the end of his career, Kinnosuke had acted in over 140 films.
He was twice nominated by the Japanese Academy, for the 1978 film The Shogun’s Samurai and for the 1989 film Death of a Tea Master. A year before his death, the Academy presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award and one year after his death he was bestowed a Special Award for his career. —AnimEigo
