Kiyoshi Atsumi
Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美 清 Atsumi Kiyoshi), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所 康雄 Tadokoro Yasuo, 10 March 1928 in Tokyo – 4 August 1996 in Tokyo), was a Japanese film actor. He started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show theater in Asakusa. After two years of fighting pulmonary tuberculosis, he made his debut on TV in 1956 and on film in 1957. His vivid performance of a lovable, innocent man in a film “Dear Mr. Emperor” (Haikei Tenno-Heika-Sama) in 1963 established his reputation as an actor.
Later he became the star of the highly popular Tora-san series of films, from the original Otoko wa Tsurai yo (translated in English as 'It's Tough being a Man') in 1969 to the 48th film released in 1995, the year before his death.
The enduring success of the series made him synonymous with the Tora-san character, and many Japanese regarded his death as the death of Tora-san, not the death of Yasuo Tadokoro or Kiyoshi Atsumi.
Acting
Movie
Tora! Tora! Tora!
as Cook #1 (uncredited)
1970
Movie
The Castle of Sand
as Movie Theater Manager
1974
Movie
The Yellow Handkerchief
as Watanabe Kacho
1977
Movie
A Distant Cry from Spring
as Kondo
1980
Movie
Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp
as Torajirô Kuruma
1969
Movie
The Man Without a Map
as Tashiro
1968
Movie
Where Spring Comes Late
as Traveler
1970
Movie
Tora-san's Cherished Mother
as Torajiro Kuruma
1969
Movie
The Village
1975
Movie
Village of Eight Gravestones
as Kosuke Kindaichi
1977
Movie
Home from the Sea
as Matsushita
1972
Movie
Tora-san, His Tender Love
as Torajiro Kuruma
1970
Movie
Downtown Heroes
1988
Movie
Tora-san Loves an Artist
1973
Movie
Tora-san's Forget Me Not
as Torajiro Kuruma
1973
Movie
Tora-san's Runaway
as Torajiro Kuruma
1970
Movie
Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies
as Kihachi
1986
Movie
Tora-san, the Good Samaritan
as Torajirō Kuruma
1971
Movie
Tora-san's Love Call
as Torajiro Kuruma
1971
Movie
Tora-san's Dream-Come-True
as Torajiro Kuruma
1972
Movie
Escape from Hell
as Ichibei
1963
Movie
Tora-san's Grand Scheme
as Torajiro Kuruma
1970
Movie
Tora-san's Shattered Romance
as Torajirô Kuruma
1971
Movie
Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza
as Minobu no Asakichi
1966