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Hiroshi Koizumi
Biography
Hiroshi Koizumi (小泉博, Koizumi Hiroshi, birth name written as 小泉 汪) (12 August 1926 – 31 May 2015) was a Japanese actor, best known for his starring role in the 1955 film Godzilla Raids Again as well as other Toho Studios monster movies. He was born in Japan. He is a graduate of Keio University in Tokyo.
In a 1999 interview with Steve Ryfle, Koizumi laments that while he stated he has easy parts to play, he felt he could have done more in his performances. Despite his roles where he usually plays a scientist, he plays a powerful role in Late Chrysanthemums, playing a young man that married an older wealthy woman to escape from the slums. On 31 May 2015, Koizumi died at a hospital in Tokyo from pneumonia at the age of 88.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Hiroshi Koizumi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Sean Connery
Biography
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 – October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer who won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award.
Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again), between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000).
Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a 2011 EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He received a lifetime achievement award in the United States with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama.
On 31 October 2020, it was announced that Connery had died at the age of 90.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Connery, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Madoka Osawa
Biography
Madoka Ozawa made her adult video (AV) debut at age eighteen with the video Pure Love for the Media Station Cosmos Plan label in December 1996. Another early work for the same studio was the January 1997 release 18 Dreams. Ozawa made several more adult videos for Cosmos Plan before moving on to another major studio, h.m.p, by October 1997. From early 1999, she also worked with Alice Japan and Atlas21 where she made Legend Of An AV Idol in May 1999. This was a documentary-style AV supposedly describing Ozawa's adolescence, her early sex-life, and the story of how she became an AV queen.
In 1997, she appeared in a mainstream movie, the Hong Kong sex comedy (also released as a DVD) Don't Tell My Partner, where she plays the sexy new girl in the office, "Nancy Lee". From 1997 to 1999, she also had roles in a number of direct-to-video V-cinema productions. More than one of her video performances was announced as her retirement from AV work. One such "retirement" AV was Fallen Angel X, which was released in September 1999 though she seems to have returned to the industry not long after its release. The plot of the video featured an "acrobatic" threesome and sex with an ex-boyfriend. The April 2000 release from h.m.p, Requiem, was also touted as Ozawa's farewell video.
This time Ozawa's retirement lasted for nearly a year and a half until she made a come-back with the Moodyz company video Indies AV Action in late 2001. She made a series of videos with Moodyz, and, in mid-2003, she also starred in a softcore gravure video, Look That Kill.
In December 2002, Ozawa visited Taiwan for the first time in order to attend an automobile exhibition as a gravure model. Her appearance at this event created such a stir with the public and media in Taiwan that she was invited for a second visit to appear before Taiwanese troops on Kinmen Island in 2003, the first time an adult performer entertained the Taiwanese military. Magistrate Lee Chu-feng welcomed Ozawa and predicted that her visit to the island would boost tourism. During this visit to Taiwan, Ozawa was invited to appear in the promotional campaign for Kaoliang Liquor and to serve as a model in a wedding dress show.
In February and March 2003, she was back in Taiwan participating in several entertainment and publicity events to heighten her public profile. She was offered opportunities to act in more TV dramas, film, and to release popular music albums. With this increasing offer of mainstream work in Taiwan, Ozawa officially retired from adult videos in 2003. However, her attempt to enter mainstream TV in Taiwan was not very successful.
Back in Japan, Ozawa's career was the subject of a three-volume Classic/Memorial series of videos from Cosmos Plan in 2004. Ozawa's final retirement video, released by Momotaro on April 30, 2004, was aptly titled Never Can Say Goodbye….
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Takayuki Godai
Biography
Takayuki Godai (五代高之, Godai Takayuki, born July 1, 1956) is a Japanese actor best known as the shōgun's ninja Saizō in the long-running prime-time television jidaigeki Abarenbō Shōgun. Godai first appeared as Saizō in Episode 57 of Series III, and continued through Series IV and V, about 190 episodes.
His stage name is the name of the character portrayed by Yujiro Ishihara in the 1969 film Eiko e no 5,000 kiro.
He is also a voice actor. He has had important roles in Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan, and as the villain Akudaikaan in Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star.
In film, Godai played the male lead opposite Rina Akiyama in the 2006 horror film Eko eko azaraku: B-page. He appeared in the 1985 Shiosai, an adaptation of The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima. He also played a role in Moonlight Mask (the 1981 movie version).
Godai appeared live on stage at a special performance Koi densetsu: Ai sureba koso by Yōko Nagayama. Wikipedia contributors. (2021, February 12). Takayuki Godai. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
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Tetsuya Watari
Biography
He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. Watari belonged to the karate club at university. He made his screen debut in 1964, in Isamu Kosugi's Abare Kishidō, and received one of the Elan d'or Awards. At Nikkatsu, Watari appeared in such films as Tokyo Drifter and the Outlaw series.
Watari was mentored at Nikkatsu by Yujiro Ishihara. When Nikkatsu shifted to focusing on Roman Porno films in the early seventies, Watari was one of many actors who left the studio.
Watari was due to play the main role in Kinji Fukasaku’s film Battles Without Honor and Humanity, but because of illness he was not able to appear. In 1974, he was forced to step down from the lead role of Katsu Kaishū in the Taiga drama Katsu Kaishū on NHK, again because of illness, after appearing in only nine episodes. In 1976, Watari won best actor of Blue Ribbon Award for his role in Kinji Fukasaku`s film Yakuza Graveyard.
In Japan, Watari is probably still best known for his role as Keisuke Daiomon in the detective series "Seibu Keisatsu" on TV Asahi. He also appeared in the popular detective drama "Taiyō ni Hoero!" as a replacement for Yujiro Ishihara in 1986.
Watari became the president of Ishihara Promotion after Yujiro's death in 1987 but in 2011 he resigned due to his declining health.
On June 10, 2015 he was hospitalised after suffering a heart attack and underwent surgery. Seven days later it was announced that he was in rehabilitation and would be discharged from hospital in about a month.
He had a younger brother, Tsunehiko Watase, who was also an actor. As a singer, Watari is known for his hit song "Kuchinashi no Hana" and he appeared in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 1974 and 1993.
He died of pneumonia on August 10, 2020, at the age of 78.
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Yoshiko Kuga
Biography
Yoshiko Kuga (久我 美子, Kuga Yoshiko, 21 January 1931 – 9 June 2024) was a Japanese actress. Kuga was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 1946, while still attending Gakushuin Junior High School, she became an actress for Toho studios. In 1947, she made her debut as one of the lead actresses in the omnibus movie Four Love Stories (四つの恋の物語, Yottsu no Koi no Monogatari). In the 1950s, she started working independently and starred in many productions of the Shochiku studios under the direction of Keisuke Kinoshita. Other important directors include Kenji Mizoguchi (The Woman in the Rumor), Yasujirō Ozu (Equinox Flower), and Tadashi Imai (An Inlet of Muddy Water). Since the 1970s, she appeared mainly on television and on stage.
Kuga was married to actor Akihiko Hirata from 1961 until his death in 1984. She died from aspiration pneumonia on 9 June 2024, at the age of 93.
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Tomokazu Miura
Biography
Tomokazu Miura (三浦 友和, Miura Tomokazu, born Miura Minoru (三浦 稔) on January 28, 1952) is a Japanese actor.
Miura attended Hino high school in Tokyo. He was originally a member of rock group RC Succession, but was asked to leave the group by their management when they signed a record contract.[1][2] However, impressed by his looks, the management company asked him to try out acting.[1] In 1974 he appeared in an advertisement for Glico with young singer Momoe Yamaguchi. When casting the male lead for her film Izu no Odoriko, they thought of Miura, and he was chosen as the male lead. The popularity of the Miura/Yamaguchi combination led to them starring together in a series of films and television series. They became known as the "Golden Combi". Although Yamaguchi had a separate career as a singer, this was Miura's main form of employment through the 1970s.
In 1980 Miura and Yamaguchi married, and the 21-year-old Yamaguchi retired from show business. Initially Miura struggled with his acting career, which had consisted of playing Yamaguchi's romantic partner.[3] However, after a few years of struggle, he was able to establish himself as an actor, changing his type from the "clean cut youth" roles he had played with Yamaguchi to "bad boy" roles. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 10th Hochi Film Award[4] and at the 7th Yokohama Film Festival[5] for Typhoon Club.[6]
Miura is a keen pachinko player and was a smoker until he gave it up at the age of 50. Because of his appearance in cigarette advertisements, it was debated in the Japanese diet whether Miura was an "idol" who could be considered to have a strong influence on underage smoking. Due to his wife's relatively greater fame and popularity, he is sometimes referred to as just "Momoe's husband" (Momoe-chan no Danna-san), a name which he dislikes.[1] The couple have two sons, Yutaro, who went on to marry singer and seiyuu Yui Makino, and Takahiro, and have repeatedly been chosen as "the ideal celebrity couple".[7] According to Miura, they have never had a marital quarrel.[
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Hisaya Morishige
Biography
Hisaya Morishige (森繁久彌, Morishige Hisaya, May 4, 1913 – November 10, 2009) was a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka, he graduated from Kitano Middle School (now Kitano High School), and attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Manchukuo. He became famous in films first for comedy roles, appearing in series such as the "Company President" (Shacho) and "Station Front" (Ekimae) series, produced by Toho. He appeared in nearly 250 films, both contemporary and jidaigeki. He was also famous on stage playing Tevye in the Japanese version of Fiddler on the Roof. He also appeared in television series and specials, and was the first guest on the television talk show Tetsuko's Room in 1975. He was long-time head of the Japan Actors Union. Among many honors, Morishige received the Order of Culture from the Emperor of Japan in 1991.
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Masumi Okada
Biography
Masumi Okada (岡田眞澄, Okada Masumi, September 22, 1935 – May 29, 2006) was a professional actor, singer, stand-up comedian, and film producer. Also known by his nickname, "Fanfan", he was born in Nice, France, to a Japanese father, Minoru Okada, who was an artist, and a Danish mother, Ingeborg Sevaldsen, who was the sister of Eline Eriksen, the model for the "Mermaid of Copenhagen" and wife of the statue's sculptor, Edvard Eriksen. Masumi Okada was the younger of two sons; his older brother, Taibi "Erick" Okada, was also an actor and presenter—known professionally as E. H. Eric, he was the emcee for the Beatles' 1966 concert in Tokyo.
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Yuki Matsumura
Biography
Matsumura Yuki is a Japanese actor who has appeared in nine feature films, as well as a number of television series and theater productions. He is also a singer and has released eight albums and eight singles. He is represented with All-Stars Company.
Matsumura was born in Bunkyo, Tokyo. While attending Tokyo Metropolitan Itabashi High School, he made his debut with the role of Shigetoshi Okita in the television drama Seito Shokun!.
He had a role in the television series Shojo ga Otona ni naru Toki Sono Hosoki Michi broadcast in 1984. After that, he continued regular appearances on the television series Furyu Shojo to Yobarete and School Wars, and in the 1980s he worked as a regular actor of Daiei dramas. He also appeared on the television series Ponytail wa Furimukanai, Furyu Shojo to Yobarete and Chishimai, and 'Hanayomeisho wa Dare ga Kiru.
He made his music recording debut with CBS Sony in 1981. He has released eight albums and eight singles. His singing activities were paused for a while, but he resumed them in 2006 and has continued his live performances which are mainly in Tokyo and Osako.
He is a swordsmith and also a calligrapher. At the age of 30, he was apprenticed to Gyokukan Saotome and started writing. He received the Prime Minister's Prize at the 17th Tokyo Document Exhibition (sponsored by Tokyo Shimbun).
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