Yusaku Matsuda - Career

Career

He began acting after graduating from high school, moving through several theatre companies before joining the Bungakuza theatre group at around the same time as Kaori Momoi. His career as a screen actor started in 1973 with a role as a junior police officer in a TV detective drama called Taiyō ni hoero! He went on to appear in various television series and action films during the seventies. His most remembered role on television was in Tantei Monogatari, in which he starred as an unlikely private detective. In films, he was known for such gun-toting roles as assassin Shohei Narumi in the Yugi (game) series of films, and master criminal Asakura in Resurrection of the Golden Wolf.

In the 1980s, desiring to be seen as more than an action star, he moved from action films to a wider range of dramatic roles. He made a dramatic weight loss to appear in the film The Beast To Die in 1980. The following year he appeared in another action film, Yokohama BJ Blues, which also featured his singing, and the surreal art film Kagero-za. In 1983, he won the award for best actor at the 8th Hochi Film Award for Detective Story and The Family Game. In 1985 he took the lead role in the award-winning Sorekara. In 1986, he directed A Homansu, after the scheduled director left due to disagreements. This was the only film he directed. During the eighties, he also appeared in many commercials, such as for Gatsby hair products or Triangle shochu. In addition to acting, from the late seventies to the eighties he toured as a singer, releasing several albums of music.

In 1989, although already diagnosed with cancer, he starred as the villain, Sato, in Black Rain. Director Ridley Scott and co-stars Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, and Kate Capshaw praised his professionalism and performance, despite his suffering. He died shortly afterwards, after making a final appearance in a special television drama with Florence Griffith-Joyner, in which he was supposed to run against her, but was unable to do so because of his illness.

After his death, his image continued to be used in commercials, such as a 2000 campaign for Schick razors using his image as Shunsaku Kudo from the Tantei Monogatari television series. Books, films, television specials, and other products, such as scale models of his most famous characters, continue to appear long after his death. In 1998, a film called Yomigaeru Yusaku: Tantei Monogatari Tokubetsu-hen was released, containing two episodes of the Tantei Monogatari television series and some additional material. In 2009, his second wife, Miyuki Matsuda, produced a tribute film, Soul Red, including clips from his films and interviews with actors such as Andy Garcia, as well as his two sons.