Kôji Mitsui

Kōji Mitsui, born Hikohide Mitsui on 6 March 1910 in Yokohama, Japan, emerged from a theatrical family—his father managed a Shochiku theater—and entered the film world while still a student at Keio School of Commerce and Industry. He debuted in 1925 under the stage name Hideo Mitsui, quickly becoming known for his soft features, expressive voice, and the ability to embody rebellious younger‑brother characters in silent and early sound pictures, including several Yasujirō Ozu classics and the popular “Yota” series. In 1935 he left Shochiku to help found the independent studio Tokyo Hassei, but after its absorption into Toho he returned to Shochiku and spent the war years performing morale‑boosting stage shows, even hearing the surrender announcement on radio before a performance in Ōmihachiman. After changing his stage name to Kōji Mitsui in 1948, he transitioned to character roles that defined his legacy, joining the Madoka Group in 1954 and later the Ningen Production Company. His collaborations with Akira Kurosawa are legendary; Kurosawa borrowed him for the gambler Yoshisaburo in The Lower Depths (1957) and later cast him in Red Beard (1965), where Mitsui’s drunken scene became iconic, reflecting his real‑life penchant for alcohol that occasionally caused on‑set tension. Despite personal struggles, he earned the Mainichi Film Award and the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1957, and his Lower Depths performance cemented his reputation as a master of sardonic, improvisational acting. In the 1960s and ’70s he moved into television, starring as a patriarch in the Fuji TV drama Oyome‑san and appearing in over one hundred TV shows before his final role in Haguregumo (1978). Mitsui died of heart failure on 20 April 1979 in Kamakura, leaving behind a daughter, a legacy of more than 150 films, and a reputation as one of Japan’s most influential supporting actors of the twentieth century.