is the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

for a Japanese cinema

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 (), lit ...

active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

for and . He was the father of the actor

Kiichi Nakai is a Japanese actor. His name was given by Yasujirō Ozu. His father, Keiji Sada, also a movie actor, died when Nakai was only two years old. Nakai started his acting career while he was still in university and was awarded the Rookie of the ...

and actress Kie Nakai.

Biography

Sada was born in Shimogyō-ku,

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 c ...

, to a merchant class family. After graduating from the 2nd Kyoto Municipal Commercial School, he entered the School of Political Science and Economics at

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

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 37.46 ...

. While a student, he roomed at a boarding house owned by the actor Shuji Sano, and on graduation was offered a position at Shochiku Studios in

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

. He also was given his stage name by Shugi Sada. In his debut appearance in 1947, ''Phoenix'', directed by

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi an ...

, Sada was paired with

Kinuyo Tanaka was a Japanese actress and film director. She had a career lasting over 50 years with more than 250 acting credits, but was best known for her 15 films with director Kenji Mizoguchi, such as ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952) and ''Ugetsu'' (1953). W ...

in a love scene. As Tanaka was already a big-name movie star, this was an immediate boost for Sada's career. Later that year, he was selected for the lead role in (), a movie adaptation of a popular

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

. Sada's career took off in the 1950s, and he starred in an average of eight to ten movies per year. In 1956, he was awarded the

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

and

for Best Actor for his role as a talent scout in '' I Will Buy You'', Masaki Kobayashi's critical study of the institutional ethics of

Japanese baseball Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport. The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The highest level of baseball in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which ...

. Sada was killed in an automobile accident in

Nirasaki, Yamanashi is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 29,483 in 12662 households, and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area is . Geography Nirasaki is located in the northwestern end of the K ...

on August 17, 1964, while returning from his summer cottage in the Tateshina Mountains of

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

. His memorial services were held in

Aoyama Cemetery is a cemetery in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The cemetery is also famous for its cherry blossoms, and at the season of hanami, which many people would visit. History The cemetery was origina ...

in Tokyo with thousands of fans attending; however, his grave is at the temple of Engaku-ji in

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

Selected filmography

* (1947) - Shinichi Yasaka * (1947) * (1948) * (1948) * (1948) - Shūhei Kagami * (1949) * (1949) - Gorō * (1949) * (1949) - Kohei Kobotoke * (1949) - Kohei Kobotake * (1949) - Hidetaka * (1949) * (1950) * (1950) * (1950) * Home Sweet Home (1951) - Saburo Uchiyama, Tomoko's boyfriend * ''

Carmen Comes Home is a 1951 Japanese comedy film directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. It was Japan's first feature length colour film. Plot Due to the renovation of the Tokyo based venue where she works, Okin, stage name Lily Carmen, and her lovesick friend Maya pay h ...

'' (1951) – Mr. Ogawa, the young school master * (1951) * (1951) * (1951) - Shūji Takaishi * ''

Fireworks Over the Sea is a 1951 Japanese drama film written and directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Plot In Yobuko, Southern Japan, brothers Tarobei and Jinkichi are running a fishing business with two ships of their own. As the catch is too low to cover the expenses, c ...

'' (1951) – Tamihiko Kujirai * (1951) - Shuji Imura * (1952) - Haruzo Yukawa * (1952) * (1952) * (1953) - Tatsuya, street musician * (1953) * (1953-1954, part 1-3) * (1953) - Goro Akiyama * (1953) * (1954) * (1954) - Ryoichi Morita * (1954) * (1954) * (1955) - Akimasa * (1955) * (1955) * (1955) - Shunsuke, Fuyuko's brother-in-law * (1956) - (uncredited) * (1956) * '' I Will Buy You'' (1956) – Daisuke Kishimoto * (1956) * (1956) * (1956) * (1957) * (1957) - Kazuo * (1957) * (1957) - Yoshizawa, Diet member * '' Times of Joy and Sorrow'' (1957) - Shiro Arisawa, Kiyoko's husband * (1957) * '' Danger Stalks Near'' (1957) - Kaneshige Satō * (1958) - Takashi Kiso * (1958) * (1958) * (1958) * ''

Equinox Flower is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu which is based on a novel by Ton Satomi. Plot Wataru Hirayama ( Shin Saburi) is a wealthy Tokyo businessman. When an old schoolmate Mikami (Chishū Ryū) approaches him for help concernin ...

'' (1958) - Masahiko Taniguchi * (1958) * (1959) * ''

The Human Condition ''The Human Condition'', first published in 1958, is Hannah Arendt's account of how "human activities" should be and have been understood throughout Western history. Arendt is interested in the ''vita activa'' (active life) as contrasted with t ...

'' (1959) - Kageyama * (1959) - Eitarō Makita * ''

Good Morning "Good morning" is a common greeting in the English language. It may also refer to: Television * ''Good Morning!!!'' (Australian show), a children's show * ''Good Morning'' (New Zealand show), a daytime talk show * ''Good Morning'' (Russian ...

'' (1959) - Heiichirō Fukui * ''High Teen'' (1959) - Shin'ichi Teras'aki * (1960) - Masashi Takayama * (1960) * (1960) * (1960) - Takashi Kiguchi * '' Late Autumn'' (1960) - Shotaru Goto * (1960) * (1961) - Shōzō Nishikawa * (1961) * ''

Immortal Love ''Immortal Love'' ''Bitter Spirit'' ( ja, 永遠の人, Eien no hito, The eternal person) is a 1961 Japanese drama film written and directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Masakazu Tam ...

'' (1961) - Takashi * (1961) - Yonesaku Nihei * (1961) * ''

Hunting Rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

'' (1961) - Kadota * (1961) * (1962) * (1962) * (1962) * (1962) * ''

An Autumn Afternoon is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu for Shochiku Films. It stars Ozu regular Chishū Ryū as the patriarch of the Hirayama family who eventually realises that he has a duty to arrange a marriage for his daughter Michiko (Shim ...

'' (1962) - Koichi * (1962) - Yoshio Nonaka, Torae's husband * (1963) - Singer at the ceremony * (1963) - Yajuro * (1963) - Shunsuke Kuze * (1963, TV Series) * (1963) - Jirō Okuyama * (1963) - Tadao Tsumura * (1964) - Ryosuke * ''

Assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

'' (1964) * (1964) - Shigeharu Takazawa * ''

Sweet Sweat is a 1964 Japanese drama film directed by Shirō Toyoda. Cast * Machiko Kyō * Keiji Sada * Eitarō Ozawa * Akira Nagoya * Miyuki Kuwano Release ''Sweet Sweat'' was released in Japan by Toho on 19 September 1964, shortly after the death of co ...

'' (1964) - Tatsuoka * (1964) - (final film role)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sada, Keiji 1926 births 1964 deaths Japanese male film actors Male actors from Kyoto 20th-century Japanese male actors Road incident deaths in Japan