16 Facts About Bunta Sugawara

Bunta Sugawara was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 200 feature films.

Bunta Sugawara quickly found additional success starring as the truck driver Momojiro Hoshi in the comedic Torakku Yaro series.

In 1980, Bunta Sugawara won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a detective in the satirical Taiyo o Nusunda Otoko.

Bunta Sugawara's parents divorced when he was four, and he moved to Tokyo to live with his father and stepmother.

Bunta Sugawara had minor roles in the Shiki Theatre Company.

Bunta Sugawara appeared in Teruo Ishii's 1958 White Line after being scouted by the Shintoho studio.

However, when Shintoho filed for bankruptcy in 1961, Bunta Sugawara moved to the Shochiku studio where he was cast in Masahiro Shinoda's Shamisen and Motorcycle, but was fired from the role for coming to set late after a night drinking.

Bunta Sugawara gave a notable performance in Keisuke Kinoshita's Legend of a Duel to the Death, but it did not fare well at the box office.

Bunta Sugawara had a part in Ishii's 1967 Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Toso, one of many films in the director's Abashiri Prison series.

Bunta Sugawara's first starring role at Toei was in Gendai Yakuza: Yotamono no Okite in 1969.

Bunta Sugawara achieved major success in 1973 at the age of 40, when he starred in Fukasaku's five-part yakuza epic Battles Without Honor and Humanity.

Bunta Sugawara won the 1980 Japan Academy Prize for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a detective in Kazuhiko Hasegawa's 1979 satirical film Taiyo o Nusunda Otoko.

In 2007, Bunta Sugawara was diagnosed and treated with radiation for bladder cancer.

On February 23,2012, Bunta Sugawara announced his retirement from acting.

Bunta Sugawara came to the decision after the Great East Japan earthquake and being hospitalized in the winter of 2011, although he said he might consider future roles.

On November 13,2014, Bunta Sugawara was checked into a Tokyo hospital after having a routine checkup.