Kōji Mitsui
Actor
Biography
Mitsui Koji ( March 6, 1910 - April 20, 1979 ) was a Japanese actor. His real name was Mitsui Hikohide. After the war, he played an active role as a supporting actor in films directed by Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu . His former stage name was Mitsui Hideo.
Changed his stage name to Mitsui Koji in Ozu's Hen in the Wind (1948) . His role as the playboy Kisaburo in Kurosawa Akira 's The Lower Depths (1957) won him the Best Supporting Actor award at the 12th Mainichi Film Awards and the 8th Blue Ribbon Awards, solidifying his status as a supporting actor.
After going freelance in 1960, he worked not only in films but also in television dramas and on stage, but after undergoing surgery for a stomach ulcer in 1971, his health deteriorated and he scaled back his acting career.
He died of heart failure on April 20, 1979 at a hospital in Kamakura. He was 69 years old.
Filmography
The Hidden Fortress
as Guard (uncredited) 1958
Woman in the Dunes
as Village Elder 1964
Red Beard
as Heikichi 1965
The Bad Sleep Well
as Reporter A 1960
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
as Furuya 1959
Floating Weeds
as Kichinosuke 1959
Dodes'ka-den
as Foodstand owner 1970
The Lower Depths
as Yoshisaburo the Gambler 1957
Scandal
as Cameraman A 1950
Early Spring
as Hirayama 1956
There Was a Father
as Graduate 1942
A Story of Floating Weeds
as Shinkichi 1934
A Hen in the Wind
as Hideo 1948
A Fugitive from the Past
as Motojima 1965
Japan's Longest Day
as Old Journalist 1967
Nanami: The Inferno of First Love
as Mr. Otagaki 1968