was a Japanese

film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

noted for his

supporting roles ''Supporting Roles'' ( es, Papeles secundarios) is a 1989 Cuban drama film directed by Orlando Rojas. The film was selected as the Cuban entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Ma ...

in a career that spanned seven decades.

Career

Tanaka was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the

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 ...

studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to secondary leads and even into leading roles against actresses such as

Ranko Hanai was a Japanese actress. Her birth name was Shimizu Yoshiko. She appeared in more than 190 films between 1931 and 1961. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1961 at the age of 42. Selected filmography * ''The Million Ryo Pot'' (1935) * ''Fallen ...

and Haruyo Ichikawa, but he never succeeded as a matinee idol. Following

Masaichi Nagata was a Japanese businessman and served as president of Daiei Film. The self-proclaimed creator of Gamera, he produced the kaiju's second film ''Gamera vs. Barugon'', with the remainder of the Showa ''Gamera'' films produced instead by his son Hi ...

, he moved to

Daiichi Eiga (第一) is a compound (linguistics)#Noun–noun compounds, compound grammatical modifier, modifier phrase of Japanese language, Japanese origin, meaning ''wikt:number one, number one'', or ''wikt:first, first''. In kanji, "dai" ("number") is � ...

and

Shinkō Kinema was a Japanese film studio active in the 1930s. Background Shinkō was established in September 1931 out of the remnants of the Teikoku Kinema studio with the help of Shōchiku capital. The historian Jun'ichirō Tanaka writes that the studio w ...

before eventually going freelance. He appeared in over 250 films, both gendaigeki and

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 ...

, by directors such as

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

Sadao Yamanaka was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the ''jidaigeki'', or historic ...

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

Tomu Uchida , born Tsunejirō Uchida on 26 April 1898, was a Japanese film director. The stage name "Tomu" translates to “spit out dreams”. Early career Uchida started out at the Taikatsu studio in the early 1920s, but came to prominence at Nikkatsu, ada ...

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, and

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). Career Masa ...

. He was particularly skilled at comic roles. He also appeared in many ''jidaigeki'' on television.

Selected filmography

*'' Kyōren no onna shishō'' (狂恋の女師匠) (1926) *''

Hawai Mare oki kaisen is a 1942 black-and-white Japanese war film directed by Kajiro Yamamoto, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Plot Production ''Hawai Mare oki kaisen'' was the most costly film made in Japan up to that time, costing over , when a typica ...

'' (ハワイ・マレー沖海戦) (1942) *''

Rikon is a 1952 black-and-white Cinema of Japan, Japanese film directed by Masahiro Makino. Cast * Ureo Egawa as Shōgo Yamamura * Yuriko Hanabusa as Natsuno Sōma * Chōko Iida as Kikuyo * Michiyo Kogure as Michiko Sōma * Noriko Munakata as Tsuru ...

'' (離婚) (1952) *''

Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed and co-written (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni) by Akira Kurosawa. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest for meaning. ...

'' (生きる) (1952) *''

Where Chimneys Are Seen , also titled ''Four Chimneys'', is a 1953 Japanese comedy-drama film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It was entered into the 3rd Berlin International Film Festival. Based on a novel by Rinzō Shiina, ''Where Chimneys Are Seen'' is regarded as on ...

'' (煙突の見える場所) (1953) *''

Life of a Woman is a 1953 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Childr ...

'' (1953) *''

The Crucified Lovers is a 1954 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It was adapted from Monzaemon Chikamatsu's 1715 bunraku play ''Daikyōji Mukashi Goyomi''. The film was presented at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, Plot Mohei is an apprentice to Ishun, t ...

'' (近松物語 Chikamatsu Monogatari) (1954) *'' Yurei Otoko'' (幽霊男) (1954) *'' An Inn at Osaka'' (大阪の宿) (1954) *''

Meoto zenzai , also known as ''Love is Shared Like Sweets'', is a 1955 Japanese drama film directed by Shirō Toyoda, starring Hisaya Morishige and Chikage Awashima. It is an adaptation of the 1940 novel of the same name by Sakunosuke Oda. ''Marital Relati ...

'' (夫婦善哉 Meoto zenzai) (1955) *'' The Legend of the White Serpent'' (白夫人の妖恋 Byaku fujin no yoren) (1956) *''

Yotsuya Kaidan , the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror ...

'' (四谷怪談 Yotsuya Kaidan) (1956) *''

Floating Weeds is a 1959 Japanese drama directed by Yasujirō Ozu, starring Nakamura Ganjirō II and Machiko Kyō. It is a remake of Ozu's own black-and-white silent film '' A Story of Floating Weeds'' (1934) and considered one of the greatest films ever made. ...

'' (浮草 Ukikusa) (1959) *''

Cruel Female Love Suicide is an April 1970 Japanese film directed by Shōgorō Nishimura and starring Annu Mari and Sanae Ōhori. The major Japanese film studio Nikkatsu began to experiment with erotic-themed movies beginning in the late 1960s in an attempt to save the co ...

'' (残酷おんな情死) (1970) *'' The Funeral'' (お葬式) (1984)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Haruo Japanese male film actors 1912 births 1992 deaths Male actors from Kyoto Japanese male silent film actors 20th-century Japanese male actors