Kamatari Fujiwara

was a Japanese stage and film actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1933 and 1984. In addition to regular appearances in the films of Akira Kurosawa, After performing in Asakusa operas, he joined Ken'ichi Enomoto's New Casino Folies.

Fujiwara gave his film debut in the 1933 film Ongaku kigeki – Horoyui jinsei (lit. "Musical comedy – Intoxicated life"), the first production of the P.C.L. studios (later Toho). Most of Fujiwara's later films were Toho productions.

He made his first appearance in an Akira Kurosawa film in the 1952 Ikiru, playing the role of Senkichi, and became a long-time member of Kurosawa's company of actors until his death. Other films with Kurosawa include Seven Samurai, The Lower Depths, The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. In addition to Kurosawa, Fujiwara regularly appeared in the films of Mikio Naruse, with whom he had worked since the mid-1930s in films like Wife! Be Like a Rose!, and had roles in Heinosuke Gosho's An Inn at Osaka and Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Twilight. He also started appearing on TV in the 1950s, including the series Ayu no uta.

Selected filmography

Ongaku Kigeki – Horoyui Jinsei (1933) Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935, directed by Mikio Naruse) The Girl in the Rumor (1935, directed by Mikio Naruse) Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938, directed by Mikio Naruse) Chocolate and Soldiers (1938, directed by Takeshi Satō) Travelling Actors (1940, directed by Mikio Naruse) Horse (1941, directed by Kajirō Yamamoto) Hideko the Bus Conductor (1941, directed by Mikio Naruse) Blue Mountains (1949, directed by Tadashi Imai) Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka (1950, directed by Mikio Naruse) The Munekata Sisters (1950, directed by Yasujirō Ozu) Nangoku no hada (1952, directed by Ishirō Honda) Ikiru (1952, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Husband and Wife (1953, directed by Mikio Naruse) The Invisible Avenger (1954, directed by Motoyoshi Oda) The Seven Samurai (1954, directed by Akira Kurosawa) An Inn at Osaka (1954, directed by Heinosuke Gosho) Dobu (1954, directed by Kaneto Shindō) I Live in Fear (1955, directed by Akira Kurosawa) The Lone Journey (1955, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki) Romantic Daughters (1956, directed by Toshio Sugie) Tokyo Twilight (1957, directed by Yasujirō Ozu) The Lower Depths (1957, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Stakeout (1958, dir. Yoshitarō Nomura) The Hidden Fortress (1958, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Life of an Expert Swordsman (1959, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki) The Sun's Burial (1960, directed by Nagisa Oshima) The Bad Sleep Well (1960, directed by Akira Kurosawa) The Approach of Autumn (1960, directed by Mikio Naruse) Yojimbo (1961, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Sanjuro (1962, directed by Akira Kurosawa) High and Low (1963, directed by Akira Kurosawa) A Woman's Life (1963, directed by Mikio Naruse) Red Beard (1965, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Mickey One (1965, directed by Arthur Penn) Taking The Castle (1965, directed by Toshio Masuda) The Sword of Doom (1966, directed by Kihachi Okamoto) The River of Tears (1967, directed by Kenji Misumi) Double Suicide (1969, directed by Masahiro Shinoda) Dodeskaden (1970, directed by Akira Kurosawa) Battle of Okinawa (1971, directed by Kihachi Okamoto) Kagemusha (directed by Akira Kurosawa, 1980) Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981, directed by Shinji Somai) W's Tragedy (1984, directed by Shinichiro Sawai) The Funeral (1984, directed by Juzo Itami)