Kiyoshi Nishimura

Kiyoshi Nishimura (Nishimura Kiyoshi) (September 7, 1932 – November 17, 1993) was a Japanese filmmaker known for his hard-boiled action films and television series.

Education

During his student days at Tachikawa High School in Tokyo, Nishimura worked part-time at a U.S. military base in Tachikawa and became immersed in filmgoing. In 1956 he graduated from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a classmate of Shintaro Ishihara.

Career

He subsequently joined Toho and worked as an assistant director to Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse, Ishirō Honda, Yuzō Kawashima, Hirokawa Horimichi, Yasuki Chiba, Eizō Sugawa, Kengo Furusawa and Hideo Onchi. He was promoted to director for the 1969 suspense actioner Shinu ni wa Mada Hayai starring Toshio Kurosawa. His next film Hakuchū no Shūgeki (1970), with Kurosawa again taking the lead role, further established him as one of Toho's most distinctive action directors. He was an aficionado of jazz, which features prominently in the soundtracks of his films, and also an avid diver.

As the Japanese film industry continued to decline, Nishimura left Toho to work freelance, and directed numerous television series. He was highly regarded for his ability to accomplish quality work despite budget and time restrictions.

After his arrest in 1987 for secretly using a video camera in a public bathhouse for women, few companies would hire Nishimura due to the media's heavy coverage of the scandal. For a time, he directed television shows under the pseudonym Yūsai Itō (井藤雄才).

Death

On November 17, 1993, Nishimura was found drowned on the Hayama coast in Kanagawa. A police investigation concluded that he had committed suicide. He was 61.