Yūsaku Matsuda

Acting

Born September 21, 1949, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan

Yūsaku Matsuda was a Japanese actor. He was born in Shimonoseki, to a Japanese father and a Zainichi Korean mother. He became an actor when he was 23 as a rookie police officer for the 1970s Japanese TV detective drama called Taiyō ni hoero! Apart from this role, his other defining role on television was in Tantei monogatari. He featured in many other TV shows and movies. He won the award for best actor at the 8th Hochi Film Award for Detective Story and The Family Game. He specialized in physical action movies. The 1989 movie Black Rain — directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia— opened the door for Matsuda as an international actor. However, shortly after he made this movie, he died due to bladder cancer. He was survived by his second wife and three young children.

Filmography

• 1989Black Rain — Sato, In Memory Of
• 1989The Chaser — Naoya Kaneshiro
• 1988A Chaos of Flowers — Takeo Arishima
• 1988Sakurako wa warau: Last emperor ni shikakerareta ayashii onna no wana
• 1988Wuthering Heights — Onimaru
• 1986A Homance — Kaze, Director, Screenplay
• 追う男
• 1985And Then — Daisuke Nagai
• 1983Dansen — Mitsuo Tajima aka Goro Tomonaga
• 1983Detective Story — Shuichi Tsujiyama
• Nettaiya
• 1983The Family Game — Sho Yoshimoto
• 1982Cliff of Death
• 1981Kagero-za — Shungo Matsuzaki
• 1981Yokohama BJ Blues — BJ, Original Concept
• 1980Rape Hunter: Target Woman — Insurance Salesman
• 1980Target — Yûsaku Matsuda
• 1980The Beast to Die — Kunihiko Date
• Zoku zoku jiken
• 1979Ameyuki-san — Shinzaburō
• Detective Story — Shunsaku Kudo
• 1979Murder in the Doll House — Toshio Katsu
• 1979No Grave for Us — Katsuo Shima
• 1979The Execution Game — Shohei Narumi
• 1979The Resurrection of the Golden Wolf — Tetsuya Asakura
• 1978The Killing Game — Shohei Narumi
• 1978The Most Dangerous Game — Shouhei Narumi
• Fushoku no kōzō — Omachi Shinichi
• 1977Proof of the Man — Detective Munesue
• Big City: Days of Struggle
• 1976Murderer! — Futago Rokube
• 1976The Classroom of Terror
• Our Medal — Nakano Yuji
• Red Maze
• 1974The Assassination of Ryoma — Yûta
• 1974The Four Roughnecks
• 1974Tomodachi
• 1973Horror of the Wolf — Dō Haguro
• Bark at the Sun — Shibata Jun (Jeapan)
• Judo Icchokusen — 青叶中学柔道部员