Roy James

Gabdulla Safa, also known as a Roy James (, March 9, 1929, Tokyo – December 29, 1982), was a Japanese actor of Tatar descent.

Biography He was born on March 9, 1929, in a poor neighborhood of Tokyo. His father, Gainan Safa, was an imam of the Muslim community who moved from Russia after the October Revolution along with other Islam leaders from the Volga-Ural region.

He lived in Turkey for a long time with his parents. Due to the family's dual citizenship, in February 1945, when Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan at the end of World War II, Gabdulla was arrested and sent to hard labor until the surrender of the Japanese Empire. At the time, white actors were rare in Japanese cinema, despite collaboration with Nazi Germany. Thus, Gabdulla Safa became one of the first foreigners to appear in Japanese movies. In 1953, he performed at the Nichigeki Musical Theater.

In 1955 he played an American soldier in director Mikio Naruse's film Floating Clouds (1955), becoming active as a film actor and television host at the dawn of Japanese television. From then on, he actively participated in numerous television and radio programs, distinguished by his open and brash manner. He also created the pseudonym «Roy James» to make him easier for Japanese viewers to remember. He also appeared in the first Japanese commercials.

Gabdulla's most notable roles were in the melodrama Hito Mo Arukeba (1960), which tells the story of a drummer's love for a money lender's daughter; the comedy Song of Youth (1959), where he played the film producer Nakai in a story about Japanese students who decide to star in a cheap film; the crime thriller The Money Dance (1964) alongside a young Shintaro Katsu, who later became famous for his role as Zatoichi in various movies; and the family comedy Yumi no Hawai de bon odori (1964), which explores generational conflicts.

Filmography (1945) - William Lister (1955) - American soldier (as Roi H. Jêmusu) (1958) - Military Police (1959) - Pinkerton (1959) - Robert Louis Stevenson (1960) - Bub Kondô (1963) - Producer Nakai (1964) - Announcer (1964) - 56 Horikawa