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Kiyoshi Atsumi

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Kiyoshi Atsumi
Born
Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄)

(1928-03-10)10 March 1928
Taito, Tokyo, Japan
Died4 August 1996(1996-08-04) (aged 68)
Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Years active1951–1996
AwardsPeople's Honour Award
(1996)

Kiyoshi Atsumi (Japanese: 渥美 清, Hepburn: Atsumi Kiyoshi), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄, Tadokoro Yasuo, 10 March 1928 – 4 August 1996), was a Japanese actor. He was born in Tokyo suffering from childhood malnutrition due to conditions in wartime. The resulting illnesses led him to re-take 3rd and 4th grade to recover, listening to Musei Tokugawa and rakugo on the radio. In 1942 the outbreak of war with the US forced his middle school class into a factory producing radiators for the military. He later graduated in 1945 but his family home was destroyed during the Tokyo firebombing.

After his initial ambitions of becoming a cargo sailor were opposed by his mother, Atsumi looked to acting after joining a traveling troop of actors with a friend. He started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show theater in Asakusa. A bout of tuberculosis resulted in a lobectomy, spending 2 years at a Saitama sanitorium to recover. He made his debut on TV in 1956 and on film in 1957. His vivid performance of a lovable, innocent man in the film "Dear Mr. Emperor" (Haikei Tenno-Heika-Sama) in 1963 established his reputation as an actor. He developed a liking to Africa after spending 4 months there to film The Song of Bwana Toshi in 1965, vacationing to Tanzania multiple times afterwards.

Later he became the star of the highly popular Tora-san series of films. The original run ended with Tora dying after being bit by a Japanese pit viper. A flood of viewer complaints forced Shochiku to commission a movie, therefore making the show into a series. His portrayal of the main characters lasted 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.

Due to declining health after 1990 filming scenes where Atsumi was standing were gradually cut down. In 1991 he was diagnosed with liver cancer which later metastized to his lungs in 1994. He died in August 8, 1996 at Juntendo University Hospital, Tokyo. His private funeral included Yôji Yamada and Chieko Baisho as attendees. The enduring success of the series made him synonymous with the Tora-san character, and when he died many Japanese regarded his death as the death of the character Tora-san, not the death of the actor Yasuo Tadokoro or Kiyoshi Atsumi.

Selected filmography

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Honours

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References

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