Kunie Tanaka

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.

Known For

Sanjuro

as Samurai

Kwaidan

as Yasaku (segment "Hoichi the Earless")

The Face of Another

as Mentally Ill Man #1

The Bad Sleep Well

as Hitman

The Sword of Doom

as Senkichi

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

as Obara Nitôhei

Dodes'ka-den

as Hatsutaro Kawaguchi

The Hidden Blade

as Kanbê Katagiri

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

as Masakichi Makihara

Pitfall

as Man in White Suit