Legendary Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai passes away at the age of 92
Japanese film legend Tatsuya Nakadai passed away from pneumonia in a hospital in Tokyo on Saturday, as reported by the Kyodo news agency, citing sources close to Nakadai.
The actor worked with some of cinema’s most influential people, including two prolific directors, Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi. Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 60 films over a career spanning 60 years.
Greatly influenced by Western media, Kurosawa’s works are known worldwide, and his name is often cited as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in cinema history. Masaki Kobayashi, another well-known director in Japan’s golden age of film, is best known for his portrayal of Japanese culture and society.
Nakadai himself was credited with over 100 film projects, a diverse yet long list, but was perhaps best known for his role in the Akira Kurosawa epic, Ran, Kurosawa’s take on Shakespeare’s King Lear, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best director.
The actor’s work with famed director Kobayashi helped secure his rise to fame; they would go on to collaborate for over 30 years across 11 projects. Nakadai is also the recipient of the Order of Culture, Japan’s highest honor for contributions to the arts, bestowed upon him by the emperor.
Kurosawa, in an interview, spoke about Nakadai’s performance in Ran and how he nailed the perfect performance in a single take for arguably one of cinema’s most incredible shots, he spoke about how without any dialogue the actor had to “convey the disintegration of a great mind and powerful will, with his castle consumed in flames around him, his soldiers all dead or dying, he must emerge alone through the billowing clouds of smoke, staring straight ahead, and walk down a long flight of steps.”
Kurosawa admitted that even he had to be helped up and down those same stairs by two people, every time he had to use them. He stated:
Since the castle was literally burning, we had only one take ot shoot the scene. If he stumbled, it would have ruined the intensity of the scene, but we would have to accept it, but Nakadai did it perfectly, without a single misstep.
Tatsuya Nakadai, together with his wife, Yasuko Miyazaki, had also opened the Mumeijuku school for young actors in Tokyo, producing talents such as Koji Yakusho and Mayumi Wakamura. He will surely be missed by friends, family, and loved ones, and his efforts will continue to inspire many generations of actors in what is seen as a domestic film industry heavily influenced by his work.
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