Quick Facts
Biography
Kei Satō (佐藤 慶, Satō Kei) was a Japanese character actor and narrator. He was born in Aizu. He is known for his work with Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima, and for several films with Kaneto Shindo, such as Onibaba and Kuroneko. He won the best actor award from Kinema Junpo for the films The Ceremony and Nihon no akuryō. He also worked as a narrator for many documentaries, both on television and film.
In his early days as an actor, before his success in The Human Condition, he supported himself by producing gariban hand-written mimeographs, and he maintained his interest in hand-printing to the end of his life.
In 1981 he appeared in the film Daydream performing an unsimulated sex scene with actress Kyoko Aizome. The involvement of a mainstream actor in a hardcore film made good press coverage and brought audiences to the theater "in droves".
Filmography
Films
| Date | Title | Role | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Human Condition | Shinjo | in The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity | |||||
| 1960 | Cruel Story of Youth | Akira Matsuko | ||||||
| The Sun's Burial | Sakaguchi | |||||||
| Night and Fog in Japan | Sakamaki | |||||||
| 1962 | Harakiri | Masakatsu Fukushima | ||||||
| Ningen | Hachizo | |||||||
| 1963 | Bushido, Samurai Saga | |||||||
| Brave Records of the Sanada Clan | ||||||||
| 1964 | Onibaba | Hachi | ||||||
| Kwaidan | Ghost samurai | in the "In a Cup of Tea" (Chawan no naka) section | ||||||
| 1965 | Akumyo Nobori | Endo | ||||||
| Samurai Spy | Takanosuke Nojiri, lieutenant | |||||||
| Pleasures of the Flesh | Police inspector | |||||||
| 1966 | Violence at Noon | Eisuke Oyamada | ||||||
| The Sword of Doom | Kamo Serizawa | |||||||
| Zatoichi's Vengeance | Boss Gonzo | |||||||
| 1967 | Band of Ninja | Sakagami Shuzen (voice) | ||||||
| Japanese Summer: Double Suicide | Otoko | |||||||
| 1968 | Death by Hanging | Prison warden | ||||||
| Kuroneko | Raiko | |||||||
| Diary of a Shinjuku Thief | ||||||||
| Three Resurrected Drunkards | Y Chong-iru - I Chong-il | |||||||
| Hymn to a Tired Man | Suzuki | |||||||
| 1971 | The Ceremony | Sakurada Kazuomi | ||||||
| 1973 | Zatoichi's Conspiracy | Magistrate | ||||||
| Hanzo the Razor: The Snare | Shobei Hamajima | − | 1978 | Satsujin Yugi | ||||
| Empire of Passion | (uncredited) | − | 1979 | The Resurrection of the Golden Wolf | Shimizu | |||
| 1981 | Daydream | Dentist | ||||||
| 1984 | Godzilla 1985 | Chief Editor Gondo | − | 1999 | Spellbound | Takashi Hisayama | ||
| 2005 | The Whispering of the Gods | Father Togawa | ||||||
| 2009 | Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler | Kazutaka Hyōdō |
Television
- Taikōki (1965) – Akechi Mitsuhide
- The Water Margin (1973)
- Tokugawa Ieyasu (1983) – Takeda Shingen
- Mujaki na Kankei (1984)
- Takeda Shingen (1988) – Abe Katsuyoshi
- Homura Tatsu (1993-94) – Minamoto no Yoriyoshi
- Aoi Tokugawa Sandai (2000) – Mashita Nagamori
- Stuart Galbraith IV (16 May 2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3.