This year has been a heartbreaking one for film lovers across the world, with the silver screen losing many of its brightest stars. Today, Japan joins in grief as it bids farewell to one of its most revered and enduring icons. Tatsuya Nakadai, the celebrated stage and screen star who defined generations of Japanese cinema, has died at the age of 92. The news was reported on today (November 11) by The Japan News.
Born Motohisa Nakadai on December 13, 1932, in Tokyo, he was the second of four siblings. After losing his father, a bus driver, in 1941, thw actor’s family moved to Aoyama, where he grew up under modest circumstances. His passion for performance led him to the Haiyuza Training School — the starting point of a career that would make him one of Japan’s most respected and enduring talents.
Motohisa’s cinematic journey
Tatsuya’s cinematic journey began humbly with an uncredited role as a prisoner in Masaki Kobayashi’s The Thick-Walled Room (1953). That small part sparked a decades-long creative partnership with the director, culminating in powerful films such as Samurai Rebellion (1967) and the haunting Kwaidan (1964).
To Western audiences, Tatsuya became synonymous with Akira Kurosawa’s masterpieces. His commanding portrayal of a warlord in Ran (1985) — a film inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear — remains one of his most defining performances. At 52, Tatsuya transformed himself into a weary, ghostly leader consumed by ambition and regret, in what would become a landmark of world cinema.
Beyond Kurosawa’s lens, Tatsuya’s versatility shone in roles ranging from the stoic samurai of Kobayashi’s Harakiri (1962) to the darkly comic tone of Kihachi Okamoto’s Kill! (1968). His career spanned more than six decades, including a voice role in Studio Ghibli’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013).
Tatsuya was predeceased by his wife, producer and playwright Kyoko Miyazaki, and is survived by their daughter, Nao Nakadai.