Masahiro Makino
Tanaka was born in Kyoto and quit school in order to become a film actor, joining the Nikkatsu studio in 1925. He eventually moved up to secondary leads and even into leading roles against actresses such as Ranko Hanai and Haruyo Ichikawa, but he never succeeded as a matinee idol. Following Masaichi Nagata, he moved to Daiichi Eiga and Shinkō Kinema before eventually going freelance. He appeared in over 250 films, both gendaigeki and jidaigeki, by directors such as Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Sadao Yamanaka, Akira Kurosawa, Tomu Uchida, Mikio Naruse, and Masahiro Makino. He was particularly skilled at comic roles. He also appeared in many "jidaigeki" on television.