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Yūnosuke Itō

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Yūnosuke Itō
Yūnosuke Itō in Kobayashi's I Will Buy You (1956)
Born3 August 1919
Tokyo, Japan
Died11 March 1980(1980-03-11) (aged 60)
OccupationActor
Years active1924–1979

Yūnosuke Itō (伊藤 雄之助, Itō Yūnosuke, 3 August 1919 – 11 March 1980) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than ninety films from 1947 to 1979.

Grave of Ito Yunosuke at Saikoji Temple, Chitose, Tokyo

Career

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Itō made his film debut at Toho in 1946,[1] and although mostly a prominent supporting actor—playing memorable figures such as the novelist in Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru—he also was cast in leading roles such as Kon Ichikawa's Mr. Pu.[1] He is acclaimed as "one of the...extremely talented character actors who populated Japanese movies in [the Shōwa] era, playing a broad range of roles."[2]

Itō received the 1962 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor for his dual role in the seminal ninja film Shinobi no Mono.[3] Film scholar Stuart Galbraith IV has noted that the "horse-faced actor...was a real chameleon, despite his instantly recognizable, distinctive features...[and] gives what may be the performance of his career [as] one of the all-time great Japanese movie villains.[4]

The son of kabuki actor Sawamura Sōnosuke I (1886-1924), Itō was the brother of actor Sōnosuke Sawamura (1918-1978), who was born Keinosuke Itō and took the name Sawamura Sōnosuke II when their father died, appearing on stage until the 1950s when he also became a TV and film actor, though never achieving his younger brother's renown.[5]

Itō penned a memoir in 1968 in which he recounted his difficult path to fame, titled Radish Actor (a term of disdain for hammy performers). In 1977, he was urged to record the wistful song "Square Box" by its lyricist, Haruka Homura. Released as a single by Warner Records, a planned follow-up LP was never recorded, as Itō died while practicing the several songs Homura had written for it.[6]

Legacy

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In 2008, Itō was one of the actors commemorated in the Seven Supporting Characters film festival held at the now-defunct[7] Cinema Artone in Tokyo's Shimokitazawa entertainment district.[8]

Tokyo's arthouse theatre Laputa Asagaya curated a 30-film retrospective in 2011 titled Great Character Actor of the Century: Fantastic Yūnosuke Itō.[9]

In July 2019, Tokyo's Cinemavera Shibuya celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth by screening 11 of his films in a shared festival honoring Itō and actor Kō Nishimura.[10]

A character designed as a caricature of Itō is regularly featured in the cat-oriented manga Mon-chan and Me, published in Fusosha's popular[11] webzine Joshi Spa! (Women's Spa!).[12]

Selected filmography

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Films

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Year Title Role Director Notes
1949 Stray Dog Manager of Bluebird Theatre Akira Kurosawa first collaboration with Kurosawa
1952 Ikiru Novelist Akira Kurosawa
1953 The Thick-Walled Room Masaki Kobayashi released 1956
1955 Keisatsu Nikki Seiji Hisamatsu
1957 Yellow Crow Ichirō Yoshida Heinosuke Gosho
1958 Giants and Toys Junji Harukawa Yasuzo Masumura
1958 The Ballad of Narayama Matayan's son Keisuke Kinoshita
1962 Sanjuro Mutsuta Akira Kurosawa
1962 The Graceful Brute Tokizō Maeda Yuzo Kawashima
1963 Kanto Wanderer Okaru-Hachi Seijun Suzuki
1963 High and Low Baba Akira Kurosawa
1965 Samurai Assassin Kenmotsu Hoshino Kihachi Okamoto
1967 The Doctor's Wife Seishu's father Yasuzo Masumura
1967 Japan's Longest Day Toshio Nonaka Kihachi Okamoto
1968 The Human Bullet Ship captain Kihachi Okamoto
1972 Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance Retsudō Yagyū Kenji Misumi
1979 Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko Bus hijacker Kazuhiko Hasegawa

Television

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Year Title Role Network Notes
1973 Kunitori Monogatari NHK Taiga drama

References

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  1. ^ a b "Itō Yūnosuke". Kotobanku (in Japanese). Asahi Shinbun. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Oh Bomb/Aa bakudan (1964)". Japan On Film. Japan On Film. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Shinobi no Mono Liner Notes". www.animeigo.com. AnimEigo. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  4. ^ Staurt Galbraith IV. "Shinobi no mono (The Ninjas)". DVD Talk. Internet Brands. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Sawamura Sōnosuke: Three Generations". Kabuki 21. Shôriya Aragorô. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Square Box, for Mr. Yūnosuke Itō". In A Square Box (in Japanese). Inside the Square Box. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  7. ^ "(Closed) Cinema Arton Shimokitazawa". Shibuya Bunka. Shibuya Bunka Project. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Comedy Limited Express Act 9: Seven Supporting Characters". Intro Creators Movie Magazine (in Japanese). Intro Cinema. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Great Character Actor of the Century: Fantastic Yūnosuke Itō". laputa-jp.com (in Japanese). Laputa Asagaya. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Famous Supporting Roles IV: Yunosuke Itō vs. Kō Nishimura Showdown". lp.p.pia.jp (in Japanese). PIA Global Entertainment. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Fans In Japan Don't Want These Anime Turned Into Live-Action Movies". Kotaku. G/O Media Inc. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Who Did The Mysterious Cat and Human Meet In The Forest One Day?". Joshi Spa! (in Japanese). Fusosha Publishing. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
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