16 Facts About Kamatari Fujiwara

Kamatari Fujiwara was born on January 15,1905, in Tokyo, Japan.

The business did not go well, so at the age of 10, Kamatari Fujiwara started working at a local confectionery store.

Perhaps, in spite of his looks, Kamatari Fujiwara married an unknown village woman.

Kamatari Fujiwara made his first appearance in a Kurosawa film alongside Takashi Shimura in 1952's Ikiru.

All up, Kamatari Fujiwara appeared in 12 of Kurosawa's films, and along with Mifune, Shimura, Nakadai and Chiaki, was regarded as one of Kurosawa's core actors.

Ironically, despite his roles generally being supporting roles to other action type actors like Mifune, Kamatari Fujiwara was an accomplished martial artist which he had studied and applied to his stage performance in his earlier years.

Kamatari Fujiwara became a long-time member of director Akira Kurosawa's company of actors until his death.

Manzo, like many of the characters that Kamatari Fujiwara portrayed, is low-class and disheveled.

Kamatari Fujiwara's smiling face is significant at the end of the film as it indicates that the villagers themselves are the real winners in the plot.

Kurosawa and Kamatari Fujiwara disputed over how Manzo should be portrayed.

Kurosawa wanted him played seriously while Kamatari Fujiwara wanted to make his paranoia comical.

Kamatari Fujiwara won and when he saw the film again, Kurosawa found that Kamatari Fujiwara made the right decision.

Kamatari Fujiwara had a long running career, appearing in more than 70 films, and in addition to this more than 50 TV appearances, from the 1930s to 1984.

Kamatari Fujiwara retired in the late 1970s, though he continued to make occasional television appearances.

Kamatari Fujiwara's final film role was a memorable cameo in Juzo Itami's The Funeral.

Kamatari Fujiwara died in 1985 at the age of 80 in a Tokyo hospital after suffering a heart attack.