Eiji Funakoshi

was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in Fires on the Plain.

Biography Born Eijirō Funakoshi on 17 March 1923, in Tokyo, Eiji Funakoshi signed up for the Daiei Motion Picture Company in 1947 and made his acting debut the following year with Beautiful Enemy. In a career that spanned three decades Funakoshi starred in a variety of genres and worked for directors Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Mikio Naruse, Kon Ichikawa and Yasuzo Masumura.

Funakoshi was a favorite actor of internationally renowned director Kon Ichikawa. Perhaps their most notable film was the World War II drama Fires on the Plain (Nobi, 1959). Funakoshi played the lead role of Imperial Army Private Tamura, a soldier stationed on Leyte Island in the Philippines. Fires on the Plain won awards in Japan and overseas, including prizes for Kon Ichikawa from the Blue Ribbon in Japan and the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.

For several years, Funakoshi portrayed Tanokura Magobei, a close associate of the shogun, on Abarenbō Shōgun.

His son Eiichirō Funakoshi is also a famous actor in Japan.

Eiji Funakoshi died of a stroke on 17 March 2007, his 84th birthday.

Filmography Year Film Role 1953 Older Brother, Younger Sister (あにいもうと Ani Imōto) Kobata 1955 A Girl Isn't Allowed to Love (薔薇いくたびか Bara ikutabika) Tsuruo Ichioka 1957 The Hole (穴 Ana) Koisuke Sengi 1958 The Loyal 47 Ronin (忠臣蔵 Chūshingura) Tsunanori Uesugi 1959 Fires on the Plain (野火 Nobi) Tamura 1960 Jokyo (女経 Jokyo) Yasushi1961Ten Dark Women (黒い十人の女 Kuroi Jūnin no Onna) 1962 Being Two Isn't Easy (私は二歳 Watashi wa nisai) Goro, the father 1962 The Graceful Brute (しとやかな獣 Shitoyakana kedamono) Eisaku Kamiya 1963 An Actor's Revenge (雪之丞変化 Yukinojō Henge) Heima Kadokura 1964 Manji (卍) Kotaro Kakiuchi 1965 Gamera (大怪獣ガメラ Daikaijū Gamera) Dr. Hidaka 1966 Shiroi Kyotō (白い巨塔) Professor Kikukawa 1969 Gamera vs. Guiron (ガメラ対大悪獣ギロン Gamera Tai Daiakujū Giron) Dr. Shiga 1969 Blind Beast (盲獣 Mōjū) Michio Sofu 1975 Tora-san's Rise and Fall (男はつらいよ 寅次郎相合い傘 Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajirō Aiaigasa)

Honours Medal with Purple Ribbon (1989) Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (1995)