Ryo Ikebe

Japanese: 池部良 - いけべりょう

Actor. Born in Ota Ward, Tokyo. His father was Ikebe Hitoshi, a Western-style painter and caricature artist. He graduated from Rikkyo University's English department in 1941. While at university, he became a research student at the Toho film studio's Scenario Research Institute, and joined Toho after graduating. Although he wanted to be a director, he made his acting debut in the film Fighting Fish, directed by Shima Yasujiro. In 1942, he was drafted into the army, where he underwent training as a Class A officer candidate and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. At the time of Japan's defeat, he was the head of a medical corps (lieutenant in the army) on Halmahera Island in the Maluku Islands. He returned to Japan in 1946 and rejoined Toho, and in 1949 he gave a brilliant performance as a high school student in the postwar smash hit film Blue Mountains (directed by Imai Tadashi). In the 1950s he starred in epic literary films such as Botchan (1953, directed by Maruyama Seiji), Snow Country (1957, directed by Toyoda Shiro), and A Dark Night's Journey (1959, directed by Toyoda Shiro), at the height of Japanese cinema's popularity, and became a leading handsome star. His representative works from the 1960s include Dry Flowers (1964, directed by Shinoda Masahiro) and the Showa Zankyoden series, in which he co-starred with Takakura Ken. He is also known as an essayist, and has written many books, including Gentle Breeze and Sometimes a Whirlwind (1990, Mainichi Shimbunsha). The painter Okamoto Taro is his cousin.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

俳優。東京都大田区に生まれる。父は，洋画家で風刺漫画家としても活躍した池部鈞（ひとし）。1941年，立教大学英文科卒業。在学中に東宝撮影所のシナリオ研究所の研究生となり，大学卒業後東宝に入社。監督志望だったが，島保次郎監督《闘魚》で俳優デビューした。42年，陸軍に招集され，甲種幹部候補生の訓練を受け少尉に任官される。敗戦時は，モルッカ諸島のハルマヘラ島の衛生隊隊長（陸軍中尉）だった。46年帰国し東宝に復帰，49年，戦後の大ヒット映画《青い山脈》（今井正監督）の旧制高校生役で好演，50年代には，《坊ちゃん》（53年，丸山誠治監督），《雪国》（57年，豊田四郎監督），《暗夜行路》（59年，豊田四郎監督）と，最盛期の日本映画で文芸大作映画に主演，代表的な演技派二枚目スターとなった。60年代の代表作に，《乾いた花》（64年，篠田正浩監督），高倉健との共演作《昭和残侠伝》シリーズがある。エッセイストとしても知られ，著書に《そよ風ときにはつむじ風》（90年，毎日新聞社）など多数。画家岡本太郎は従兄。

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