Overview
Kunie Tanaka
Known For
北の国から 記憶 前編
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'The Bad Sleep Well'
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all...
Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Sanjuro'
Documentary made by Toho for the Masterworks reissue of all...
Kita no kuni kara 2002 Yuigon Part 2
北の国から記憶
Biography
Kunie Tanaka (田中 邦衛 Tanaka Kunie, November 23, 1932 - March 24, 2021) was a Japanese actor. He had his first notable role in 1960 as a thug in Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, and worked with the director again on Sanjuro. Tanaka is well known for his roles in Kinji Fukasaku's yakuza films, namely the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series. He also appeared in Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan. He has been nominated for five Japanese Academy Awards, winning the Best Supporting Actor statuette for Gakko in 1993. He appeared as the lecherous Shinjiro Ishiyama, nicknamed Aodaishō, the antagonist of the hero, played by Yūzō Kayama, in all of the Wakadaishō series of films. The character Kizaru, from Eiichiro Oda's manga series One Piece, is modeled after Tanaka.