(March 30, 1903 – March 31, 1983) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

film and television actor most famous for his starring roles in

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

Career

Born in 1903 in

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima ...

(his real name was Masayoshi Ueki), he was raised in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. As a child he began training in

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

in a theatre troupe run by Kataoka Nizaemon XI, and appeared in one film in 1923. He eventually entered the movie world for good in 1927 first at Makino Productions, but following the lead of other former Makino stars like

Tsumasaburō Bandō was one of the most prominent Japanese actors of the twentieth century. Famous for his rebellious, sword fighting roles in many jidaigeki silent films, he rose to fame after joining the Tōjiin Studio of Makino Film Productions in Kyoto in ...

, Chiezō started his own independent production company, Chiezō Productions, the next year. That studio became the longest lasting of the independent, star-centered productions, in part because it had such talented directors as

Mansaku Itami Mansaku Itami (伊丹万作; real name Yoshitoyo Ikeuchi 池内義豊; 2 January 1900 – 21 September 1946) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter known for his critical, sometimes satirical portraits of Japan and its history. H ...

and

Hiroshi Inagaki was a Japanese filmmaker best remembered for the Academy Award-winning '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'', which was released in 1954. Career Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining t ...

, and produced such masterworks as '' Akanishi Kakita''. He folded the company in 1937 and joined

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

. Specializing in ''

'', he played the lead in various films before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the

Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States wi ...

, however, when Allied censors restricted the production of ''jidaigeki'', Chiezō also appeared in a series of eleven films as

Bannai Tarao is the name of a set of Japanese mysteries (the first, , being made in 1946), featuring a detective of the same name who could take on seven different faces, in similar fashion to the protagonists of later series '' 7-Color Mask'', '' Rainbowman ...

, a modern era detective who is a master of disguise. He eventually joined Toei, where he also served on the board of directors. Among his starring roles for Toei were eighteen films in which he played

Tōyama no Kin-san is a popular character based on the historical Tōyama Kagemoto, a samurai and official of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. In kabuki and kōdan, he was celebrated under his childhood name, Kinshirō, shortened to ...

and a three-part ''Daibosatsu Tōge.'' Another role was in ''Akō Rōshi'', a drama based on the

Forty-seven Ronin 47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48. It is a prime number. In mathematics Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, the fourth isolated prime, and the sixth L ...

. Later, he portrayed the father of

Ōoka Tadasuke was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate (''machi-bugyō'') of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate ( Yamada bugyō) prio ...

in the television series ''

Ōoka Echizen is a prime-time television ''jidaigeki'' in Japan. From March 16, 1970 to March 15, 1999, 402 episodes and 15 seasons were broadcast. Also, a two-hour special aired on March 20, 2006, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the '' National Geki ...

.'' His career spanned six decades.

Family

His son, Yoshiharu Ueki, a former pilot, was named the president of

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

in January 2012.

Filmography

* '' Chūkon giretsu: Jitsuroku Chūshingura'' (1928) * '' The Peerless Patriot'' (国士無双 Kokushi musō) (1932) * '' Akanishi Kakita'' (赤西蠣太) (1936) * ''

Singing Lovebirds is a 1939 Japanese film directed by Masahiro Makino. It is a musical comedy. Fulfilling his reputation as a fast worker, Makino made the film in only two weeks when an opening was created in the production schedule of another film, ''Yaji Kita D� ...

'' (鴛鴦歌合戦 Oshidori utagassen) (1939) * ''

'' (多羅尾伴内 Tarao Bannai) (1946) * ''

Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji is a 1955 Japanese jidaigeki and drama film directed by Tomu Uchida. Plot The samurai Sakawa Kojūrō is on the road to Edo with his two servants Genta and Genpachi. Kojūrō is a kindly master, but his character totally changes when he consum ...

'' (血槍富士 Chiyari Fuji) (1955) * '' The Kuroda Affair'' (Kuroda sōdō) (1956) * '' Akō Rōshi: Ten no Maki, Chi no Maki'' (赤穂浪士天の巻地の巻) (1956) * ''

Ninkyō Shimizu-minato is a 1957 color Japanese film, directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda (松田定次), and the first of an all-star cast trilogy, loosely based on the legend of Shimizu Jirocho (1820–1893), Japan's most famous gangster and folk hero, whose life and explo ...

'' (任侠清水港 Ninkyō Shimizu-minato) (1957) * '' Dai-bosatsu tōge'' (大菩薩峠) (1957) * ''

Kunisada Chūji was a popular figure in the Edo period. He was a bakuto (gamblers commonly seen as forerunners to the modern yakuza). His story is mainly responsible for the romanticised "chivalrous bandit" or "Robin Hood" image in Japan. An example was when ...

'' (1958) * '' Akō Rōshi'' (赤穂浪士 Akō Rōshi) (1961) * ''

'' (TV series) (1970) * ''

Amigasa Jūbei is a Japanese television ''jidaigeki'' or period drama that was broadcast from 1974 to 1975. It is based on Shōtarō Ikenami's novel by the same title. It depicts the stories of Tsukimori Jūbei and the Forty-seven rōnin. A remake was aired in 1 ...

'' (TV series) (1974), Nakane Masafuyu * ''

Sanada Yukimura no Bōryaku is a 1979 Japanese film directed by Sadao Nakajima. The film deals Sanada Yukimura and Siege of Osaka. Cast *Hiroki Matsukata as Sanada Yukimura *Chiezō Kataoka as Sanada Masayuki *Tatsuo Umemiya as Sanada Nobuyuki *Teruhiko Aoi as Sanada Ten B ...

'' (1979),

Sanada Masayuki was a Japanese Sengoku period lord and ''daimyō''. He was the head of Sanada clan,_a_regional_house_of_Shinano_Province.html" ;"title="DF 56 of 80/nowiki>">DF 56 of 80">("Sa ..., a regional house of Shinano Province">DF 56 of 80/nowiki>">DF 5 ...

Honours

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...

(1971) * Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (1977)

References

External links

* *
Chiezō Kataoka at NHK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kataoka, Chiezo 1903 births 1983 deaths Japanese male silent film actors Film studio executives 20th-century Japanese male actors Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class