Kiyoshi Atsumi

Biography

Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美 清 Atsumi Kiyoshi), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄 Tadokoro Yasuo, 10 March 1928 in Tokyo – 4 August 1996 in Tokyo), was a Japanese film actor. He started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show theater in Asakusa. After two years of fighting pulmonary tuberculosis, he made his debut on TV in 1956 and on film in 1957. His vivid performance of a lovable, innocent man in a film “Dear Mr. Emperor” (Haikei Tenno-Heika-Sama) in 1963 established his reputation as an actor. Later he became the star of the highly popular Tora-san series of films, from the original Otoko wa Tsurai yo (translated in English as 'It's Tough being a Man') in 1969 to the 48th film released in 1995, the year before his death. The enduring success of the series made him synonymous with the Tora-san character, and many Japanese regarded his death as the death of Tora-san, not the death of Yasuo Tadokoro or Kiyoshi Atsumi.

Known For

Tora! Tora! Tora!

as Cook #1 (uncredited)

The Castle of Sand

as Movie Theater Manager

The Yellow Handkerchief

as Watanabe Kacho

A Distant Cry from Spring

as Kondo

It's Tough Being a Man

as Torajirô Kuruma

The Man Without a Map

as Tashiro

Where Spring Comes Late

as Traveler

Village of Eight Gravestones

as Kosuke Kindaichi

Downtown Heroes

Tora-san's Cherished Mother

as Torajiro Kuruma