Keiji Sada

Keiji Sada
is the stage name for a Japanese cinema actor active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th Blue Ribbon Awards for (I Will Buy You) and . He was the father of the actor Kiichi Nakai and actress Kie Nakai.
Biography
Sada was born in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, to a merchant class family. After graduating from the 2nd Kyoto Municipal Commercial School, he entered the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University in Tokyo. While a student, he roomed at a boarding house owned by the actor Shuji Sano, and on graduation was offered a position at Shochiku Studios in Kanagawa. He also was given his stage name by Shugi Sada.
In his debut appearance in 1947, Phoenix, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, Sada was paired with Kinuyo Tanaka in a love scene. As Tanaka was already a big-name movie star, this was an immediate boost for Sada's career. Later that year, he was selected for the lead role in , a movie adaptation of a popular NHK radio drama.
Sada's career took off in the 1950s, and he starred in an average of eight to ten movies per year. In 1956, he was awarded the Mainichi Film Award and Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor for his role as a talent scout in I Will Buy You, Masaki Kobayashi's critical study of the institutional ethics of Japanese baseball.
Sada was killed on August 17, 1964, while returning with his family from their summer cottage in the Tateshina Mountains of Nagano Prefecture when their chauffeur collided with a taxi on a bridge in Nirasaki, Yamanashi. (His wife and two children were unhurt.) His memorial services were held in Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo with thousands of fans attending; however, his grave is at the temple of Engaku-ji in Kamakura.
Selected filmography
(1947) - Shinichi Yasaka
(1947)
(1948)
(1948)
(1948) - Shūhei Kagami
(1949)
(1949) - Gorō
(1949)
(1949) - Kohei Kobotoke
(1949) - Kohei Kobotake
(1949) - Hidetaka
(1949)
(1950)
(1950)
(1950)
Home Sweet Home (1951) - Saburo Uchiyama, Tomoko's boyfriend
Carmen Comes Home (1951) – Mr. Ogawa, the young school master
(1951)
(1951)
(1951) - Shūji Takaishi
Fireworks Over the Sea (1951) – Tamihiko Kujirai
(1951) - Shuji Imura
(1952) - Haruzo Yukawa
(1952)
(1952)
(1953) - Tatsuya, street musician
(1953)
(1953-1954, part 1-3)
(1953) - Goro Akiyama
(1953)
(1954)
(1954) - Ryoichi Morita
(1954)
(1954)
(1955) - Akimasa
(1955)
(1955)
(1955) - Shunsuke, Fuyuko's brother-in-law
(1956) - (uncredited)
(1956)
I Will Buy You (1956) – Daisuke Kishimoto
(1956)
(1956)
(1956)
(1957)
(1957) - Kazuo
(1957)
(1957) - Yoshizawa, Diet member
Times of Joy and Sorrow (1957) - Shiro Arisawa, Kiyoko's husband
(1957)
Danger Stalks Near (1957) - Kaneshige Satō
(1958) - Takashi Kiso
(1958)
(1958)
(1958)
Equinox Flower (1958) - Masahiko Taniguchi
(1958)
(1959)
The Human Condition (1959) - Kageyama
(1959) - Eitarō Makita
Good Morning (1959) - Heiichirō Fukui
High Teen (1959) - Shin'ichi Teras'aki
(1960) - Masashi Takayama
(1960)
(1960)
Blood Is Dry (1960) - Takashi Kiguchi
Late Autumn (1960) - Shotaru Goto
(1960)
(1961) - Shōzō Nishikawa
(1961)
Immortal Love (1961) - Takashi
(1961) - Yonesaku Nihei
(1961)
Hunting Rifle (1961) - Kadota
(1961)
(1962)
(1962)
(1962)
(1962)
An Autumn Afternoon (1962) - Koichi
(1962) - Yoshio Nonaka, Torae's husband
(1963) - Singer at the ceremony
(1963) - Yajuro
(1963) - Shunsuke Kuze
(1963, TV Series)
(1963) - Jirō Okuyama
(1963) - Tadao Tsumura
(1964) - Ryosuke
Assassination (1964)
(1964) - Shigeharu Takazawa
Sweet Sweat (1964) - Tatsuoka
(1964) - (final film role)
References
External links
1926 births
1964 deaths
Japanese male film actors
Male actors from Kyoto
20th-century Japanese male actors
Road incident deaths in Japan