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Kō Nishimura

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Kō Nishimura
西村 晃
Born(1923-01-25)January 25, 1923
DiedApril 15, 1997(1997-04-15) (aged 74)
Other namesAkira Nishimura
OccupationActor
Years active1946–1997

Kō Nishimura (西村 晃, Nishimura Kō, 25 January 1923 – 15 April 1997) was a Japanese actor.

Known in the West primarily for supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and Yojimbo, Kihachi Okamoto's Sword of Doom, Yoshitaro Nomura's Zero Focus, and Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp, Nishimura also played leading roles throughout his career. He is sometimes known as Akira Nishimura, as the kanji character 晃 can be translated as either Akira or Kō.

The son of biologist and inventor Makoto Nishimura, Nishimura made his film debut in the Shin Saburi film Fusetsu Nijyunen in 1951.[1] He won the Blue Ribbon Awards for best supporting actor in 1964 for Unholy Desire directed by Shohei Imamura.[2] In 1982, he won the Best Actor award in the Mainichi Film Awards for his performances in Matagi.[2]

In Japan, Nishimura is well known for playing the role of the title character in the long-running television jidaigeki series Mito Kōmon from 1983 to 1992.[2] He also portrayed the voice of the "Mamo/Howard Lockewood" in the original Japanese version of anime film The Mystery of Mamo in 1978.

In July 2019, Tokyo's Cinemavera Shibuya honored him with a film festival celebrating both Nishimura and Yūnosuke Itō, another popular character actor who attained high status in Japan's entertainment industry.[3]

Filmography

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Film

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TV Drama

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Voice

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Dubbing

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Other

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Honours

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References

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  1. ^ "西村晃". eigadb. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "西村晃". kotobank.jp. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Famous Supporting Roles IV: Yunosuke Itō vs. Kō Nishimura Showdown". lp.p.pia.jp (in Japanese). PIA Global Entertainment. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. ^ Lentz III, Harris M. (1989). Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits, Supplement: Through 1987. McFarland & Company. p. 421. ISBN 0-89950-364-0.
  5. ^ Kasuga, Taichi [in Japanese] (24 February 2022). "不気味な洋館に集う人間の欲望。怪奇作の名手が見せる白黒の恐怖!――春日太一の木曜邦画劇場". Shūkan Bunshun (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  6. ^ "脅迫 おどし". eiga.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. ^ Stuart Galbraith IV (16 May 2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3.
  8. ^ "戦争と人間 第二部・愛と悲しみの山河". eiga.com. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. ^ "不毛地帯". TV drama database. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  10. ^ "宮本武蔵 (Musashi Miyamoto)". TV drama database (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 July 2021.
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