Shintaro Katsu
Template:Short description Template:Lead too short Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
Template:Nihongo was a Japanese actor, singer, and filmmaker. He is known for starring in the Akumyo series, the Hoodlum Soldier series, the Hanzo the Razor series, and the Zatoichi series.
Life and career
Born Toshio Okumura (奥村 利夫 Okumura Toshio) on 29 November 1931. He was the son of Minoru Okumura (奥村 実), a noted kabuki performer who went by the stage name Katsutōji Kineya (杵屋 勝東治) and who was renowned for his nagauta and shamisen skills. He was the younger brother of actor Tomisaburo Wakayama.
Shintaro Katsu began his career in entertainment as a shamisen player. He switched to acting because he noticed it was better paid. In the 1960s he starred simultaneously in three long-running series of films, the Akumyo series, the Hoodlum Soldier series, and the Zatoichi series.
He played the role of blind masseur Zatoichi in a series of 25 films between 1962 and 1973, in 100 episodes across a four season television series from 1974 to 1979, and in a 26th and final film in 1989, which he also directed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1967, Katsu formed the company Katsu Productions.<ref name="Standish2006">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1972, Katsu Productions released the initial chanbara film in a trilogy with the Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice based on a gekiga by Koike Kazuo. Hanzo the Razor: The Snare would be released in 1973, and Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? in 1974.
Katsu had a troubled personal life. A heavy drinker, Katsu had several brushes with the law over drug use as well, including marijuana, opium and cocaine with arrests in 1978, 1990 and 1992.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
He had also developed a reputation as a troublemaker on set. When director Akira Kurosawa cast him for the lead role in Kagemusha (1980), Katsu left before the first day of shooting was over.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Though accounts differ as to the incident, the most consistent one details Katsu's clash with Kurosawa regarding bringing his own film crew to the set (to film Kurosawa in action for later exhibition to his own acting students).<ref name="KurosawaCardullo2008">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Cowie1981">Template:Cite book</ref> Kurosawa is reputed to have taken great offense at this, resulting in Katsu's termination (he was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai). In her book, Waiting on the Weather, about her experiences with director Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami chalks the differences between Katsu and Kurosawa up to a personality clash that had unfortunate artistic results.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
He was the husband of actress Tamao Nakamura (married in 1962), and father of actor Ryutaro Gan (Gan Ryūtarō).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Stunt actor Yukio Kato was killed on the set of the 26th Zatoichi film by Katsu's son, who was co-starring, when an actual sword was mistaken for a prop, fatally wounding Kato.
In her book, Geisha, A Life, Kyoto geisha Mineko Iwasaki claimed to have had a long time affair with Katsu, whom she calls by his given name, Toshio. The affair ended in 1976, and eventually the two became good friends until his death.Template:Citation needed
Katsu produced the manga-based Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Okami) series of jidaigeki films starring his brother Tomisaburo Wakayama, two of which were later compiled into the movie Shogun Assassin, as well as co-writing, producing, and acting alongside his brother in the TV jidaigeki series Oshizamurai Kiichihōgan (Mute Samurai) and Tsūkai! Kōchiyama Sōshun.
His other television work includes the police drama Template:Ill (Superintendent K) which he starred in (as Katsutoshi Gatsu), co-wrote, directed, and produced. His daughter, Template:Ill, co-starred.
His film work includes the Hanzo the Razor series as Detective Itami Hanzo. He was also an accomplished shamisen player, as well as a vocalist, recording several albums in both pop and Enka.
He died of pharyngeal cancer on 21 June 1997.
Filmography
As actor
As producer
| Year | Title | Japanese | Romanization | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo | Zatōichi to Yōjinbō | producer | |
| 1970 | Zatoichi at the Fire Festival | Zatōichi abare-himatsuri | producer | |
| 1971 | Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman | Shin Zatōichi: Yabure! Tojin-ken | producer | |
| 1971 | Kaoyaku | Kaoyaku | executive producer | |
| 1972 | Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice | Goyōkiba | producer | |
| 1972 | Zatoichi at Large | Zatōichi goyō-tabi | producer | |
| 1972 | New Hoodlum Soldier Story: Firing Line | Shin heitai yakuza: Kasen | producer | |
| 1972 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance | Kozure Ōkami: Kowokashi udekashi tsukamatsuru | producer | |
| 1972 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx | Kozure Ōkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma | producer | |
| 1972 | Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades | Kozure Ōkami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma | producer | |
| 1972 | Zatoichi in Desperation | Shin Zatōichi monogatari: Oreta tsue | producer | |
| 1973 | Mute Samurai | Oshizamurai Kiichihōgan (TV series) | executive producer | |
| 1973 | Zatoichi's Conspiracy | Shin Zatōichi monogatari: Kasama no chimatsuri | ||
| 1973 | Hanzo the Razor: The Snare | Goyōkiba: Kamisori Hanzō jigoku zeme | ||
| 1974 | The Homeless | Yadonashi | producer | |
| 1974 | Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? | Goyōkiba: Oni no Hanzō yawahada koban | producer | |
| 1974 | Akumyo: Notorious Dragon | Akumyo: shima arashiaka | ||
| 1980 | Shogun Assassin | producer | ||
| 1989 | Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi | Zatōichi |
As director
| Year | Title | Japanese | Romanization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Kaoyaku | Kaoyaku | |
| 1972 | Zatoichi in Desperation | Shin Zatōichi monogatari: Oreta tsue | |
| 1973 | Mute Samurai | Oshi samurai (TV series) | |
| 1974 | Zatoichi | Zatōichi monogatari (TV series) (episode "A Memorial Day and the Bell of Life") | |
| 1989 | Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally | Zatōichi |
As writer
| Year | Title | Japanese | Romanization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Zatoichi at the Fire Festival | Zatōichi abare-himatsuri | |
| 1971 | Kaoyaku | Kaoyaku | |
| 1989 | Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally | Zatōichi |
As himself
| Year | Film | Film type |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | The Blind Swordsman | Documentary |
References
Bibliography
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External links
Template:Mainichi Film Award for Best Actor Template:Authority control
- 1931 births
- 1997 deaths
- Japanese male film actors
- Japanese male television actors
- Japanese film directors
- Japanese people convicted of drug offenses
- Okumura family
- Samurai film directors
- Deaths from cancer in Japan
- People from Kōtō
- Singers from Tokyo
- 20th-century Japanese male actors
- 20th-century Japanese male singers
- 20th-century Japanese singers