Tetsu Nakamura (actor)

Tetsu Nakamura (Japanese: 中村 哲, Hepburn: Nakamura Tetsu, 19 September 1909 – 3 August 1992), born Satoshi Nakamura (also credited as Tatsu Nakamura and Tetu Nakamura), was a Japanese film actor and opera singer active from the 1940s to the 1980s.[1][2][3] He featured in over 40 films.

Tetsu Nakamura
Born(1909-09-19)19 September 1909
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died3 August 1992(1992-08-03) (aged 82)
Kiyose, Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s)Film actor, singer (baritone)
Years active1941-1984
SpouseSachi Nakamura

Early years

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a father involved in the lumber industry, Nakamura studied at Britannia Secondary School before enrolling at a music academy to become a baritone singer.[4] After graduating, he performed on radio and in recitals before moving to Japan in 1940. There he enrolled in Nikkatsu's film acting school, and graduated in 1941.[4] In the meantime, he was selected by the opera singer Yoshie Fujiwara to appear as Escamillo in Carmen in a performance at the Kabuki-za.[4]

Career

He became a contract actor at the Toho Studios in 1942, and started appearing in roles in such films as The Opium War (1943), Ano hata o ute, and Aru yoru no tonosama (1946).[4] After touring the United States as part of Fujiwara's opera company in 1953, he concentrated on film acting.[4]

With his fluency in English, he often appeared in foreign co-productions. He played the antagonist in Tokyo File 212 (1951) and a supporting role in Geisha Girl (1952).[5] Writing about Tokyo File 212 in his book Korean War Filmography, Robert J. Lentz opined that "Nakamura [was] smooth and oily as the villain Oyama, who at heart [was] as much a capitalist as a Communist".[6]

His other prominent roles include Dr. Robert Suzuki in George Breakston's science-fiction horror film The Manster (1962), Japanese Ambassador in the international co-production Red Sun (1971), Dr. Kawamoto in the B-movie The Last Dinosaur (1977) and other roles in Oriental Evil (1951), Futari no hitomi (1952), The H-Man (1958), Mothra (1961), The Lost World of Sinbad (1963) and Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965).

He also appeared on television well into the 1980s.[7]

Partial filmography

References
  1. Galbraith, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: A Complete Reference to 209 Filmmakers and the Over 1250 Films Released in the United States, 1900 Through 1994. McFarland. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-7864-0032-4.
  2. King, James (24 February 2012). Under Foreign Eyes. John Hunt Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-78099-049-1.
  3. Meikle, Denis (2005). The Ring companion. Titan. p. 80. ISBN 9781845760014.
  4. Shimizu, Akira (1979). "Nakamura Tetsu". Nihon eiga haiyū zenshū: Danyū hen (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kinema Junpō. p. 422.
  5. Lentz, Robert J. (28 August 2008). Korean War Filmography: 91 English Language Features through 2000. McFarland. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-4766-2154-8.
  6. Lentz, Robert J. (2003). Korean War Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 377. ISBN 978-0-7864-1046-0. OCLC 50630520.
  7. "Nakamura Tetsu". Terebi Dorama Dētabēsu. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
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