Occupation Actor Role Actor Parents Denzo Takeshiba | Name Daisuke Kato Died July 31, 1975 Children Haruyuki Kato | |
 | ||
Born February 18, 1911 ( 1911-02-18 ) Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan Siblings Sadako Sawamura, Kunitaro Sawamura, Seiko Yajima Movies Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Rashomon, When a Woman Ascends t, An Autumn Afternoon Similar People Sadako Sawamura, Shinobu Hashimoto, Mikio Naruse, Hideo Oguni, Hiroyuki Nagato | ||
Daisuke Katō (加東 大介, Katō Daisuke, February 18, 1911 – July 31, 1975) was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 films, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (as the loyal comrade Shichiroji), Rashomon, Yojimbo (as the "wild pig" Inokichi), and Ikiru, and Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy and Chushingura.
Contents
Career
Born as Tokunosuke Katō to a theatrical family, his older brother was the actor Kunitarō Sawamura and his older sister the actress Sadako Sawamura. He joined the Zenshinza theatre troupe in 1933 and appeared in a number of stage and film productions under the stage name Enji Ichikawa, including Sadao Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons and Kenji Mizoguchi's The 47 Ronin. After spending the war in New Guinea, he returned to Japan and signed with the Daiei Film studio, appearing now under the name Daisuke Katō. Beyond appearing in many great postwar jidaigeki, he was also a regular in the Company President (Shachō) comedy series at Toho.
His book on his wartime experiences, Minami no shima ni yuki ga furu, published in 1961, was adapted into an NHK television drama and twice made into a film.
Awards
Daisuke Katō won the Blue Ribbon Award for best supporting actor in 1952 for Kettō Kagiya no Tsuji and Mother, and in 1954 for Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji and Koko ni izumi ari.
Family
Kato's nephews are the actors Masahiko Tsugawa and Hiroyuki Nagato. His son, Haruyuki Katō, married Kazuko Kurosawa, the costume designer and daughter of Akira Kurosawa. His grandson by Harayuki and Kazuko is actor Takayuki Kato.
Filmography
(incomplete)