Yujiro Ishihara

Yujiro Ishihara

Yujiro Ishihara on the poster for Shori-sha (1957)
Born (1934-12-28)December 28, 1934
Kobe, Japan
Died July 17, 1987(1987-07-17) (aged 52)
Shinanomachi, Tokyo, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Occupation actor and singer
Years active 1956-1982
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Spouse(s) Mie Kitahara (1960-1987) (his death)

Yujiro Ishihara (石原 裕次郎 Ishihara Yūjirō, December 28, 1934 – July 17, 1987) was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe. His elder brother is Shintaro Ishihara, an author, politician, and the Governor of Tokyo between 1999 and 2012. Yujiro's film debut was the 1956 film "Season of the Sun," based on a novel written by his brother. He was beloved by many fans as a representative youth star in the films of postwar Japan and subsequently as a macho movie hero. He was extravagantly mourned following his early death from liver cancer.

Life and career

Yūjirō grew up in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, in Otaru, Hokkaidō, and in Zushi, Kanagawa. His father, an employee of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, was from Ehime Prefecture, and his mother was from Miyajima, Hiroshima.[1] Yūjirō attended Otaru Fuji Kindergarten (小樽藤幼稚園) and then Otaru City Inaho Elementary School (小樽市立稲穂小学校). During his elementary school years he participated in competitive swimming and skied on Mt. Tengu (天狗山 tenguyama). He then attended Zushi City Zushi junior High School (逗子市立逗子中学校 zushi shiritsu zushi chuugakkō), where he began playing basketball. He aimed to enter Keio Senior High School, but did not pass the entrance examination. He enrolled at Keio Shiki Boys' Senior High School (慶應義塾志木高等学校), but in 1951 was admitted to Keio Senior High School. Afterward he entered the political science department of the school of law at Keio University, associated with the high school, but reportedly spent all his time playing around.

Wanting to become an actor, he auditioned at Toho, Daiei Film and Nikkatsu, but did not pass any of his auditions. However, in 1956, with help from producer Takiko Mizunoe and his brother Shintaro, he received a bit-part in the film adaptation of Shintaro's Akutagawa Prize-winning Season of the Sun, making his film debut. Afterwards he withdrew from Keio University to work for Nikkatsu, playing the lead in the film adaptation of Shintaro's novel Crazed Fruit.

At the 1958 Blue Ribbon Awards Ishihara won the prize for best new actor for the 1957 films Washi to taka and Man Who Causes a Storm. He would go on to become one of the representative stars of the Showa Era with his twin acting and singing career, but his life was one made harder by illness and injury.

In 1960 he married actress Mie Kitahara, his co-star in a number of films beginning in 1956 with Crazed Fruit.

Yūjirō, together with Akira Kobayashi, was the main male star at Nikkatsu on Nikkatsu's move into the Roman Porno soft porn market. Yūjirō founded the Ishihara Productions company to pursue television drama projects as actor, director and producer.

Yūjirō survived a 1978 oral cancer of the tongue, and an 1981 aortic aneurysm, supported by friends, family and his legion of fans. However he was later diagonised with liver cancer and died at Keio University Hospital in 1987 on July 17 at 4:26. He was 52 years old.

Throughout his life Yūjirō used alcohol and tobacco, and ate meals that were lacking in vegetables; this unhealthy lifestyle is generally acknowledged as contributing to his early death.

Legacy and memorials

Yujiro Ishihara was called a Japanese Elvis Presley and his movies and music are still followed by lovers of the Shōwa period. On the anniversary of his death, 17 July, his mourning ceremony is often rebroadcast on television.

His grave is a granite gorintō, at Sōji-ji temple in Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa. A memorial museum opened on June 21, 1991 in Otaru, Hokkaido.

He was remembered in 1996 by his brother, Shintaro, in the Mainichibungakusho Special Prize winning biography Otōto (弟), (Younger brother), this was the basis of a 2004 TV Asahi television drama.

His image features on a 1997 Japanese postage stamp.[2]

Filmography

(Filmography 1956-1959 is complete.[3])

Discography

TV drama

References

  1. ↑ Shinichi Sano;『てっぺん野郎─本人も知らなかった石原慎太郎』（Kodansha 2003）
  2. ↑ "平成9年特殊切手「戦後50年メモリアル第5集」". Post.japanpost.jp. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  3. ↑ "石原裕次郎". Jmdb.ne.jp. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
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