Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai (Ran, Harakiri, The Human Condition), 92, died on Nov. 8. Born in Tokyo, he was a huge stage star before entering films, appearing in nearly 200 between 1954-2020. His most famous in the US were Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 medieval drama Ran, and Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition trilogy (No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, and A Soldier’s Prayer); Nakadai eventually appeared in 11 of Kobayashi’s films. “There's just something about being in front of a camera,” he once said. “And being in front of an audience is the same thing. It's hopeless. I guess I'm just a ham. You're willing to take a plunge from any height.” Asked what his best film was, Nakadai said that “I think I'd say it was Harakiri, which I made when I was 29. You could say my most important work was finished by the time I was 29!”
