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Kiyoshi Atsumi

Acting Born Mar 10, 1928 Tokyo, Japan 24 credits

Biography

Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美 清 Atsumi Kiyoshi), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄 Tadokoro Yasuo, 10 March 1928 in Tokyo – 4 August 1996 in Tokyo), was a Japanese film actor. He started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show theater in Asakusa. After two years of fighting pulmonary tuberculosis, he made his debut on TV in 1956 and on film in 1957. His vivid performance of a lovable, innocent man in a film “Dear Mr. Emperor” (Haikei Tenno-Heika-Sama) in 1963 established his reputation as an actor.

Later he became the star of the highly popular Tora-san series of films, from the original Otoko wa Tsurai yo (translated in English as 'It's Tough being a Man') in 1969 to the 48th film released in 1995, the year before his death.

The enduring success of the series made him synonymous with the Tora-san character, and many Japanese regarded his death as the death of Tora-san, not the death of Yasuo Tadokoro or Kiyoshi Atsumi.

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Known for

Film

Tora! Tora! Tora!

as Cook #1 (uncredited)
Film

The Yellow Handkerchief

as Watanabe Kacho

Full filmography

  • Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) as Cook #1 (uncredited)
  • It's Tough Being a Man (1968)
  • The Castle of Sand (1974) as Movie Theater Manager
  • The Yellow Handkerchief (1977) as Watanabe Kacho
  • A Distant Cry from Spring (1980) as Kondo
  • Tora-san, Wish You Were Here (2019) as Tora-san (archive footage)
  • August Without Emperor (1978) as Kubo
  • Attack Squadron (1963)
  • おれの義姉さん (1970)
  • Village of Eight Gravestones (1977) as Kosuke Kindaichi
  • Tora-san's Sunrise and Sunset (1976) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san's Lullaby (1974) as Torajiro
  • Tora-san's Love in Osaka (1981) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san's Dream of Spring (1979) as Kuruma Torajiro
  • Marriage Counselor Tora-san (1984) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies (1986) as Kihachi
  • Tora-san, the Expert (1982) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san, My Uncle (1989) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san Goes Religious? (1983) as Kuruma Torajiro
  • Tora-san Goes to Vienna (1989) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp (1969) as Torajirô Kuruma
  • Tora-san, the Go-Between (1985) as Torajiro Kuruma
  • Where Spring Comes Late (1970) as Traveler