(16 April 1934 – 10 March 2011) was a Japanese comedian, actor, and singer.

Career

Sakagami was born in Kagoshima Prefecture but spent most of his childhood in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese in ...

. Winning an

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song contest at age 19, he headed to Tokyo to try to make a name in the entertainment business, eventually training as a comedian at the

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History T ...

strip clubs. It was there that he met

Kin'ichi Hagimoto is a Japanese comedian. He is active as a stage performer, emcee, and manager of the amateur Ibaraki Golden Golds (''ibaraki goruden gōruzu'') of the Japanese Baseball Association (''nippon yakyuu renmei''). Born in the Taitō ward of Tōky� ...

and in 1966, the two formed the

owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". ''Owarai'' is most common on Japanese variety sho ...

duo Konto 55-gō. Konto 55-gō became nationally famous, starring in several top-rated shows on television. Sakagami continued to release songs and branched out into acting, appearing in television dramas as well as in films such as

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's ''

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannic ...

''. He died of a stroke on 10 March 2011 at a

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the nort ...

hospital.

Partial filmography

* ''Hatsukoi sengen'' (1968) - Manager * ''Hakuchû dôdô'' (1968) * ''Konto gojugo-go: Seiki no daijukuten'' (1968) - Yota Kitagawa * ''Kamisama no koibito'' (1968) * ''Hitokiri-O Castigo'' (1969) * '' Konto 55-gō jinrui no daijakuten'' (コント55号人類の大弱点) (1969) * ''Konto55go-ore wa ninja no mago'' (1969) - Konto55 * ''Mito Kômon man'yûki'' (1969) - Jirobei * '' Konto 55-gō uchū no daibōken'' (コント55号宇宙大冒険) (1969) * ''Namida no nagashi uta inochi azukemasu'' (1970) - Patron * ''Kigeki sore ga otoko no ikiru michi'' (1970) * ''Futari de hitori'' (1970) * ''Fuji Keiko Waga uta no arukagiri'' (1971) * ''Konto Gojugo-go to Miko no zettai zetsumei'' (1971) - Jiro Sakamoto * ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in th ...

'' (1974) * ''Kigeki damashi no jingi'' (1974) * ''Kigeki: onna no naki-dokoro'' (1975) * ''Hadashi no seishun'' (1975) * ''Seisyun no Kôzu'' (1976) - Gorô Sakaguchi * ''Omatsuri yarô: uogashi no kyôdai-bun'' (1976) * ''Inubue'' (1978) - Cab driver * ''Edo no Taka'' (1978)- House keeper/Spy * '' Nutcracker Fantasy'' (1979) - Chinese Wiseman (Japanese version, voice) * ''Kindaichi Kosuke no boken'' (1979) - Goemon Ishida * '' The Highest Honor'' (1982) - Kimura * ''Kono ko no nanatsu no oiwai ni'' (1983) - Ikumatsu * '' Amagigoe'' (天城越え Amagigoe) (1983) - Sweet Shop Owner * ''Okinawa no shonen'' (1983) - Production chief * ''Shiosai'' (1985) * ''

A Class to Remember is a 1993 Japanese film directed by Yōji Yamada. It was chosen as Best Film at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony. Synopsis A cantankerous but loveable high school teacher teaches a night school in a poor neighborhood for adult students on the ...

'' (学校 Gakko) (1993) * ''Kappa'' (1994) - Village Mayor * ''

Anne no Nikki , also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a 1995 Japanese anime film based on Anne Frank's 1942-1944 '' The Diary of a Young Girl''. It is a feature film by Madhouse, was directed by Akinori Nagaoka and released on August 19, 1995. Voice ...

'' (1995) - Mr. Hans Van Dann (Hermann van Pels) (voice) * ''Sada: Gesaku · Abe Sada no shôgai'' (1998) - Risaburo Miyazaki * ''

'' (御法度 Gohatto) (1999) - Lieutenant Genzaburo Inoue * ''Drug'' (2001) - Shoichiro Hirakawa * ''Shin yukiguni'' (2001) - Kobayashi * ''Fukumimi'' (2003) * ''Hokushin naname ni sasu tokoro'' (2007) - Sanada (final film role)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakagami, Jiro Japanese comedians Japanese male film actors Japanese male stage actors Japanese male television actors Japanese male voice actors 1934 births 2011 deaths Musicians from Kagoshima Prefecture Actors from Kagoshima Prefecture 20th-century Japanese male actors 20th-century Japanese male singers 20th-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male singers 21st-century Japanese singers