Uehara, Ken

The early years

Kiyoaki Ikehata's father (this is the real name of the actor) was a professional military ^[2] . A Japanese army colonel, originally from Kagoshima Prefecture, died when Kiyoaki was a junior high school student. After graduating from Seizo High School (in Shinjuku , Tokyo ), Kiyoaki entered Rikke University in 1929 ^[2] . In 1933, while still studying at the university, Kiyoaki sent his photograph for a competitive set of young actors to the Kamata movie studio of the Shёtiku movie company.

Movie career

After graduating from the university in 1935, he will be taken to Shochiku Kamata ^[2] , where he will start acting in films, taking the creative pseudonym Ken Uehara. He makes his debut as a student in the film of one of the well-known studio directors Hiroshi Shimizu, “A Man in the Prime of Life” (1935). One of the partners of the beginning actor in this film will also be the young actress Michiko Kuvano, who recently came to the Kamata studio. With her, the actor will play together in the next, 1936, in one of the pre-war masterpieces of Japanese cinema, the film of the same Shimizu " Mr. Thank you ." The title role in this film will make him one of the popular young actors of Japanese cinema of those years.

In 1937, Uehara played one of the main roles in the popular “ Triple Engagement ” film of that year, directed by Yasujiro Shimazu . Together with two filming partners, young actors Shin Saburi and Shuji, Sano entered the so-called "Shёtiku Trio." The film was successful at the box office and these three actors had a breakneck success with the mass audience, which the film company immediately took advantage of, starting an advertising campaign of three young actors as stars of a new generation. With no less success, he played the main role in the film "Lanterns of Asakusa" of the same Yasujiro Shimazu (1937).

Uehara was one of the most popular hero lovers of the 1930s - 1940s , playing roles in a similar role in the films Yasujiro Ozu , Hiromas Nomura, Hiroshi Shimizu , Heinosuke Gosho , Keisuke Kinoshita and others. His partners on the screen were the most popular stars of those years - Kinyu Tanaka , Mieko Takamine , Sumiko Kurishima ...

Unsatisfied with the main policy of the company, focused primarily on female stars, Uehara left the "Setika" after the war. In the late 1940s - in the 1950s, the actor created interesting characteristic roles in films classified as masterpieces of Japanese cinema, with Kon Itikawa in the dilogy 365 Nights: Tokyo and 365 Nights: Osaka (both 1948). Keisuke Kinoshita in The Ghost of Yotsui (1949) and Japanese Tragedy (1953), in the drama Yasujiro Ozu 's Sisters Munekata (1950), with Kenji Mizoguchi in Portrait of Lady Yuki (1950), in the tapes of Heinosuke Gosho Morning unrest "(1952) and" Where factory pipes are visible "(1953). But the actor was especially expressive in the works of the subtle master of traditionalism Mikio Naruse : “ Food ” (1951), “ Groan of the Mountain ” and “ Late Chrysanthemums ” (both - 1954), “ Daughter, wife and mother ” (1960). For performing the main roles in the dilogy of Mikio Naruse, “Spouses” and “Wife” (both 1953), Uehara was awarded the Mainity magazine prize as the best actor of the year ^[2] .

In the 1960s, the actor starred a lot in the fantastic films of the Toho film company ( Motra , 1961, Goras , 1962, Atragon: Flying Super Submarine , 1963, all directed by Isiro Honda and others). In the same period, Uehara entered the hotel business with the opening of the Pacific Park Hotel in Tigasaki ( Kanagawa Prefecture ). However, due to the difficult economic situation, the hotel went bankrupt in 1970. Faced with huge debt in this connection, Uehara left Toho.

Since the late 1960s, the actor did not appear on the set, returning to the screen only in 1983, starring in the film Nobuhiko Obayashi “The Girl Conquering Time”. For more than half a century of work in the cinema, the actor starred in 206 films ^[3] .

Personal life

On the set of his debut film “Youthful Innocence of the Boss’s Son” (1935), the actor gets acquainted with actress Yoko Kodzakura, the next year they will become spouses, despite the opposition to this union from the studio’s leadership. The couple will live a happy marriage for thirty-five years, until the death of the spouse in 1970. In this union, on April 11, 1937, the son of Yuzo Kayama will be born, following in the footsteps of his parents and starting his film career in 1960. The most famous works of the actor: “ 47 Ronin ” (1962, dir. Hiroshi Inagaki ), “ Confusion ” (1964, dir. Mikio Naruse ), “ Red Beard ” (1965, dir. Akira Kurosawa ), “ Genius of Judo ” (1965, director Seiichiro Utikawa), “ It began in the Alps ” (1967, director Kengo Furusawa).

In 1975, the widowed Uehara will enter into a second marriage with former club singer Masami Obayashi, who was 38 years younger than him. Due to the large age difference, this scandalous union did not leave the tabloid pages. In 1980, they will have a daughter, who now also became an actress under the name Ryô Hitomi.

In June 1991, a divorce proceedings will take place between Ken Uehara and Masami Obayashi. On November 23 of the same year, the housekeeper discovers an actor lying in the bathroom, an ambulance called in takes him to Kyorin Private University Hospital in Mitaka ( Tokyo Prefecture ), where the actor dies of acute heart failure .

• Ken Wehara on the Internet Movie Database