Ken Ogata

Ken Ogata
photo of Ken Ogata
Native name	緒形拳
Born	緒形 明伸 (Akinobu Ogata) (1937-07-20)July 20, 1937 Tokyo, Kantō region, Japan
Died	Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–2008
Awards	Japan Academy Prize Best Actor 1979 The Demon 1984 The Ballad of Narayama 1987 House on Fire

Ken Ogata (緒形拳 Ogata Ken; 20 July 1937 – 5 October 2008) was a Japanese actor.

Life

Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan. Ogata is well known for his roles in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book, Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and Shohei Imamura's The Ballad of Narayama. He won the award for best actor at the 26th Blue Ribbon Awards for Okinawan Boys.

In television, his starring role as Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1965 NHK Taiga drama Taikōki catapulted him to fame. Ken went on to many prominent roles in subsequent programs. The following year, he portrayed Benkei in Minamoto no Yoshitsune. The network tapped him again for the role of Fujiwara no Sumitomo in the 1976 Kaze to Kumo to Niji to. He returned to playing Hideyoshi in the 1978 Ōgon no Hibi, and returned to the lead as Ōishi Kuranosuke in Tōge no Gunzō, the 1982 Chūshingura. Another featured appearance in a Taiga drama was in Taiheiki (1991, as Ashikaga Sadauji, father of Takauji). NHK selected Naoto for the starring role of Oda Nobunaga in the 1992 Taiga drama Nobunaga King of Zipangu; Kanta played Inaba Masakatsu in Aoi Tokugawa Sandai (2000).

Mr. Ogata died on October 5, 2008, just days after finishing his role in the production of the Fuji TV drama Kaze no Garden (Garden of the Winds), filmed in the rural Furano area of northern Japan. In his final role, Ogata, himself 71 years of age, played a doctor involved in the end-of-life care of elderly patients.

His sons Kanta and Naoto Ogata are actors.

Filmography

• Castle of Sand (1974)
• The Demon (1978)
• Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
• Samurai Reincarnation (1981)
• Edo Porn (1981)
• Yaju-deka (1982)
• The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
• Okinawan Boys (1983)
• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
• House on Fire (1986)
• Zegen (1987)
• Shogun's Shadow (1989)
• Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman (1989)
• Rainbow Kids (1991) as Daigoro Igari
• The Pillow Book (1996)
• Man Walking on Snow (2001)
• The Hidden Blade (2004)
• The Samurai I Loved (2005)
• Love and Honor (2006)

Television

• NHK taiga drama
  • Taikōki – Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1965)
  • Minamoto no Yoshitsune – Benkei (1966)
  • Shin Heike Monogatari – Dr. Abe no Asadori (1972)
  • Kaze to Kumo to Niji to – Fujiwara no Sumitomo (1976)
  • Ōgon no Hibi – Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1978)
  • Tōge no Gunzō – Ōishi Kuranosuke (1982)
  • Taiheiki – Ashikaga Sadauji (1991)
  • Mōri Motonari – Amago Tsunehisa (1997)
  • Fūrin Kazan – Usami Sadamitsu (2007)
• Gift – Yujiro Kishiwada (CX, 1997)
• Furuhata Ninzaburō – Kengo Kuroiwa (CX, 1999)
• Sailor Suit and Machine Gun – Hajime Sandaiji (TBS, 2006)
• Boushi – Shunpei Takayama (NHK Hiroshima, 2008)
• The Scorching Silk Road

Honours

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (2000)
• Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2008)

External links

• Ken Ogata at the Internet Movie Database
• Ken Ogata at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
• Ken Ogata's Blog, hara8bunme (in Japanese)