was a Japanese

film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

most famous for starring roles in gendaigeki of the silent era.

Career

Suzuki was born in Tokyo and was a championship swimmer at

Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...

when he first appeared in ''

Souls on the Road is a 1921 Japanese silent film directed by Minoru Murata. Film critic Mark Cousins wrote that it was "the first landmark film in Japanese history". The film's plot is adapted from Maxim Gorky's play, The Lower Depths, and Wilhelm Schmidtbonn ...

'' in 1921 under the name Zeya Tōgō (東郷是也, a pun on the English "to go there"). After graduating in 1924, he joined the

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

studio and began acting under his own name. He moved to

Shōchiku is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed ''kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establishe ...

's Kamata studio the next year and became a major star appearing in youth films often directed by

Kiyohiko Ushihara was a Japanese film director most famous for his gendaigeki of the silent era. Career Born in Kumamoto Prefecture and graduating from Tokyo University, Ushihara joined the Shochiku studio in 1920 on the invitation of Kaoru Osanai. Starting ou ...

. He also worked with directors such as

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include '' The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), '' The Life of Oharu'' (1952), '' Ugetsu'' (1953), and ' ...

Minoru Murata was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor who was one of the major directors of the silent era in Japan. Career Born in Tokyo, Murata started out as a shingeki actor on the stage. Murata's troupe appeared in the first " pure films ...

Masahiro Makino was a Japanese film director. He directed more than 260 films, primarily in the chanbara and yakuza film, yakuza genres. His real name was , but he took the stage name Masahiro, the kanji for which he changed multiple times (including , , and ). ...

, and

Yasujirō Shimazu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, and a pioneer of the ''Shoshimin-eiga, shōshimin-eiga'' (common people drama) genre at the Shōchiku studios in pre-World War II Japan. Biography Shimazu was born in Tokyo, the second son of merch ...

. He also directed some films and even ran for political office, though unsuccessfully.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (路上の霊魂, Rojō no reikon) (1921) * '' Marching On'' (進軍, Shingun) (1930) * ''

The Mountain Pass of Love and Hate ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

'' (愛憎峠 Aizo toge) (1934) * '' Ahen senso'' (阿片戦争) (1943)

References

External links

* * Japanese male film actors 1900 births 1985 deaths Japanese male silent film actors Male actors from Tokyo People from Taitō 20th-century Japanese male actors {{Japan-film-actor-stub