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Yūjirō Ishihara

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Yujiro Ishihara
Yujiro Ishihara on the poster for Shori-sha (1957)
Born(1934-12-28)December 28, 1934
Kobe, Japan
DiedJuly 17, 1987(1987-07-17) (aged 52)
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Occupation(s)actor and singer
Years active1956-1982
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
SpouseMie Kitahara (1960-1987) (his death)

Yujiro Ishihara (石原 裕次郎, Ishihara Yūjirō, December 28, 1934 – July 17, 1987) was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe. His elder brother is Shintaro Ishihara, an author, politician, and the Governor of Tokyo between 1999 and 2012. Yujiro's film debut was the 1956 film Season of the Sun, based on a novel written by his brother. He was beloved by many fans as a representative youth star in the films of postwar Japan and subsequently as a macho movie hero. He was extravagantly mourned following his early death from liver cancer.

Life and career

Yūjirō grew up in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, in Otaru, Hokkaidō, and in Zushi, Kanagawa. His father, an employee of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, was from Ehime Prefecture, and his mother was from Miyajima, Hiroshima.[1] Yūjirō attended Otaru Fuji Kindergarten (小樽藤幼稚園) and then Otaru City Inaho Elementary School (小樽市立稲穂小学校). During his elementary school years he participated in competitive swimming and skied on Mt. Tengu (天狗山, tenguyama). He then attended Zushi City Zushi junior High School (逗子市立逗子中学校, zushi shiritsu zushi chuugakkō), where he began playing basketball. He aimed to enter Keio Senior High School, but did not pass the entrance examination. He enrolled at Keio Shiki Boys' Senior High School (慶應義塾志木高等学校), but in 1951 was admitted to Keio Senior High School. Afterward he entered the political science department of the school of law at Keio University, associated with the high school, but reportedly spent all his time playing around.

Wanting to become an actor, he auditioned at Toho, Daiei Film and Nikkatsu, but did not pass any of his auditions. However, in 1956, with help from producer Takiko Mizunoe and his brother Shintaro, he received a bit-part in the film adaptation of Shintaro's Akutagawa Prize-winning Season of the Sun, making his film debut. Afterwards he withdrew from Keio University to work for Nikkatsu, playing the lead in the film adaptation of Shintaro's novel Crazed Fruit.

At the 1958 Blue Ribbon Awards Ishihara won the prize for best new actor for the 1957 films Washi to taka and Man Who Causes a Storm. He would go on to become one of the representative stars of the Showa Era with his twin acting and singing career, but his life was one made harder by illness and injury.

In 1960 he married actress Mie Kitahara, his co-star in a number of films beginning in 1956 with Crazed Fruit.

Yūjirō, together with Akira Kobayashi, was the main male star at Nikkatsu on Nikkatsu's move into the Roman Porno soft porn market. Yūjirō founded the Ishihara Productions company to pursue television drama projects as actor, director and producer.

Yūjirō survived a 1978 oral cancer of the tongue, and a 1981 aortic aneurysm, supported by friends, family and his legion of fans. However he was later diagonised with liver cancer and died at Keio University Hospital in 1987 on July 17 at 4:26. He was 52 years old.

Throughout his life Yūjirō used alcohol and tobacco, and ate meals that were lacking in vegetables; this unhealthy lifestyle is generally acknowledged as contributing to his early death.

Legacy and memorials

Yujiro Ishihara was called a Japanese Elvis Presley and his movies and music are still followed by lovers of the Shōwa period. On the anniversary of his death, 17 July, his mourning ceremony is often rebroadcast on television.

His grave is a granite gorintō, at Sōji-ji temple in Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa. A memorial museum opened on June 21, 1991, in Otaru, Hokkaido.

He was remembered in 1996 by his brother, Shintaro, in the Mainichibungakusho Special Prize winning biography Otōto (弟), (Younger brother), this was the basis of a 2004 TV Asahi television drama.

His image features on a 1997 Japanese postage stamp.[2]

Selected filmography

[3]

  • Season of the Sun (太陽の季節, Taiyō no Kisetsu, 1956) (supporting role)
  • Crazed Fruit (狂った果実, Kurutta kajitsu, 1956)
  • The Baby Carriage (乳母車, Ubaguruma, 1956)
  • Chitei no Uta (地底の歌, 1956)
  • Gesshoku (1956)
  • Jazz musume tanjō (ジャズ娘誕生 Jazu musume tanjō, 1957)
  • Shorisha (1957)
  • This Day's Life (今日のいのち Kyo no inochi, 1957)
  • Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate　(幕末太陽伝 Bakumatsu taiyōden, 1957) - Takasugi Shinsaku
  • Washi to taka (1957)
  • I Am Waiting (俺は待ってるぜ Ore wa matteru ze, 1957)
  • Man Who Causes a Storm (嵐を呼ぶ男 Arashi o yobu otoko, aka A Storming Drummer, 1957)
  • Yoru no kiba, literally "Fang of the Night" (1958)
  • Rusty Knife (錆びたナイフ Sabita naifu, 1958)
  • A Slope in the Sun (陽のあたる坂道 Hi no ataru sakamichi, 1958)
  • Ashita wa Ashita no Kaze ga Fuku (1958)
  • Subarashiki dansei (1958)
  • Fūsoku 40 metres (風速４０米 Fūsoku yonjū mētoru, 1958)
  • Red Quay (赤い波止場 Akai Hatoba, 1958)
  • Arashi no naka o tsuppashire (1958)
  • Kurenai no tsubasa (1958)
  • Sekai o kakeru koi (1959)
  • Otoko nara yume o miro (1959)
  • Ajisai no uta (1960) - Tôsuke Kawada
  • Kenka Tarô (1960) - Tarô Uno
  • Yakuza sensei (1960)
  • Tôgyû ni kakeru otoko (1960) - Tôu Kitami
  • Ashita hareru ka (1960) - Kôhei Misugi
  • Tekkaba no kazê (1960)
  • Seinen no ki (1960)
  • Aitsu to watashi (1961) - Saburo Kurokawa
  • Dôdôtaru jinsei (1961) - Shûhei Nakabe
  • Arabu no arashi (1961) - Shintaro Munakata
  • Otoko to otoko no ikiru machi (1962) - Takeo Iwasaki
  • Ginza no koi no monogatari (1962) - Jirô Ban
  • Seinen no isu (1962) - Torahiko Takasaka
  • Nikui an-chikushô (1962) - Daisaku Kita
  • Zerosen Kurokumo Ikka (1962)
  • Wakai hito (1962) - Shintarô Masaki
  • Kinmontô ni kakeru hashi (1962)
  • Hana to ryu (1962)
  • Nanika omoroi koto nai ka (1963) - Jirô Hayasaka
  • Yogiri no burûsu (1963)
  • Alone on the Pacific aka Alone Across the Pacific (太平洋ひとりぼっち Taiheiyo hitori-botchi, 1963) - The Youth
  • Red Handkerchief (1964)
  • Yuhi no okâ (1964)
  • Tekkaba yaburi (1964)
  • Satsujin sha o kese (1964)
  • Kuroi kaikyo (1964) - Akio Maki
  • Shirotori (1965) - Tozo Kuruma
  • Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965) - Yamamoto
  • Seishun to wa nanda (1965) - Kensuke Nonomura
  • Nakaseruze (1965)
  • Akai tanima no kettô (1965)
  • Kaerazeru hatoba (1966) - Shiro Tsuda
  • Yorû no bara o kesê (1966)
  • Yogirî no bojô (1966)
  • Eiko eno chôsen (1966)
  • Yogiri yo kon'ya mo arigatô (1967) - Tôru Sagara
  • Hatoba no taka (1967) - Keinichi Kusumi
  • Kimi wa koibito (1967) - Ishizaki - director
  • Ogon no yaro-domo (1967)
  • Arashi kitari saru (1967)
  • Tekka no hanamichi (1968)
  • Kurobe's Sun (黒部の太陽; Kurobe no Taiyō, 1968) - Iwaoka
  • Wasureru monoka (1968)
  • Showa no inochi (1968)
  • Samurai Banners (風林火山; Fūrin Kazan, 1969) - Kenshin Uesugi
  • Eiko e no 5,000 kiro (1969)
  • Hitokiri (1969) - Ryoma Sakamoto
  • Arashi no yushatachi (1969) - Shimaji
  • Fuji sanchō (1970)
  • Machibuse (1970) - Yataro
  • Aru heishi no kake (1970) - Hiroshi Kitabayashi
  • Men and War (1970) - Shinozaki
  • A Man′s World (1971) - Tadao Konno
  • Yomigaeru daichi (1971) - Kazuya uematsu
  • Kage Gari Hoero taiho (1972) - Jubei Muroto
  • Kage Gari (1972) - Muroto Jubei
  • Arcadia of My Youth (わが青春のアルカディア Waga Seishun no Arcadia, 1982) - Phantom F. Harlock I (voice)

Discography

  • Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (1958)
  • Ginza no Koi no Monogatari (銀座の恋の物語) (1961)
  • Red handkerchief (1962)
  • Futari no Sekai (1965)
  • Yogiri yo Konyamo Arigatou (1967)
  • Brandy Glass (ブランデー グラス) (1977)
  • Waga Jinsei ni Kuiwanai (1987)
  • Kita no Tabibito (1987)

TV drama

References

  1. ^ Shinichi Sano;『てっぺん野郎─本人も知らなかった石原慎太郎』（Kodansha 2003）
  2. ^ "平成9年特殊切手「戦後50年メモリアル第5集」". Post.japanpost.jp. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  3. ^ "石原裕次郎". Jmdb.ne.jp. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
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