Kunie Tanaka
Acting
Born: 1932-11-23 in Toki, Gifu, Japan
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
Samurai
From the Northern Country
Goru Kuroita (黑板五郎)
Submersion of Japan
Tatsuno
Kwaidan
Yasaku (segment "Hoichi the Earless")
May Love Be Restored
Yugiri-ro client
The Bullet Train
Koga's Brother
The Free Island
The Sword of Doom
Senkichi
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
Masakichi Makihara
The Sun's Burial
Thief
Prison Walls of Abashiri, Part 2
Kirikawa
The Nagasaki Crime Chronicles
Yoshitoshi Kogure
The Shin Hasegawa Series
蛙ヶ池の仙太
Kita no kuni kara '92 Sudachi Part 1
Red Diamond
George Takase
Troubleman Laughs and Kills
Japan's Don
Detective Goto
The Demon
Policeman
The Face of Another
Mentally Ill Man #1
White Love
New Abashiri Prison Story: Honor and Humanity, Ammunition That Attracts the Storm
The Password is Courage
The Return of the Newshound and the Lady Cop
Yutaro Hatori
Graveyard of Honor
Katsuji Kozaki
Winter's Flower
Kokichi Minami
The Bad Sleep Well
Hitman
Outlaw: Black Dagger
Doctor Michio Hongô
Rice Curry
Tomorrow
Shoji's stepfather
Dodes'ka-den
Hatsutaro Kawaguchi
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
Obara Nitôhei
Punishment of a Lawless Villian
Ronin-gai
Magozaemon Doi
The War Without Weapons
Detective Kitajima
Birth of a Fighter
Dazzling Cops
Nangou Goro
Luminous Moss
Hachizo
Nogare no machi
The House of Wedlock
Kazuya Enomoto
Charming Men
Kuramoto Kuraji