Kunie Tanaka
Known For
Acting
Born
1932-11-23 in Toki, Gifu, Japan
Died
2021-03-24
Biography
Kunie Tanaka (田中 邦衛 Tanaka Kunie, November 23, 1932 - March 24, 2021) was a Japanese actor. He had his first notable role in 1960 as a thug in Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, and worked with the director again on Sanjuro. Tanaka is well known for his roles in Kinji Fukasaku's yakuza films, namely the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. He also appeared in Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan. He has been nominated for five Japanese Academy Awards, winning the Best Supporting Actor statuette for Gakko in 1993. He appeared as the lecherous Shinjiro Ishiyama, nicknamed Aodaishō, the antagonist of the hero, played by Yūzō Kayama, in all of the Wakadaishō series of films. The character Kizaru, from Eiichiro Oda's manga series One Piece, is modeled after Tanaka.
Most Known For
Kita no kuni kara
as 黑板五郎
Kewaishi
Station
as Sugawara
Submersion of Japan
as Tatsuno
The Password is Courage
The Nagasaki Crime Chronicles
as Yoshitoshi Kogure
Kwaidan
as Yasaku (segment "Hoichi the Earless")
Older brother
as Kintaro
The Return of the Newshound and the Lady Cop
as Yutaro Hatori
The Shin Hasegawa Series
as 蛙ヶ池の仙太
The Face of Another
as Mentally Ill Man #1
The Bad Sleep Well
as Hitman
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
as Obara Nitôhei
Sanjuro
as Samurai
The Inferno
as Unpei Ikegata
The Bullet Train
as Koga's Brother
Dazzling Cops
as Nangou Goro
The Battle of Okinawa
The Sword of Doom
as Senkichi
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
as Masakichi Makihara