Tokyo: Renowned Japanese actor Tatsuya Nakadai, celebrated for his performances in Akira Kurosawa’s cinematic masterpieces including ‘Ran’ and ‘Kagemusha’, has died at the age of 92, his acting school announced on Tuesday.

Mumeijuku, the acting academy he founded, confirmed his death on Saturday from pneumonia.

Nakadai first gained prominence under acclaimed director Masaki Kobayashi, who cast him in the monumental anti-war trilogy ‘The Human Condition’ (1959–1961), which established him as one of Japan’s leading actors and earned him international recognition.

Although Nakadai appeared briefly in Kurosawa’s 1954 classic ‘Seven Samurai’, he later became the director’s principal leading man after the departure of Toshiro Mifune. He played the dual roles of a thief and a warlord’s double in Kurosawa’s ‘Kagemusha’ (1980), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and delivered a commanding performance as the ageing warlord in ‘Ran’ (1985), Kurosawa’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’.

Nakadai’s extensive career spanned stage and screen, working with other great Japanese filmmakers including Hiroshi Teshigahara and Kon Ichikawa. He also appeared alongside Mifune in Kurosawa’s 1961 samurai film ‘Yojimbo’.

In 1975, Nakadai and his late wife, actor Yasuko Miyazaki, established Mumeijuku, a private acting school and theatre troupe dedicated to training the next generation of performers. Among its notable alumni is actor Koji Yakusho, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes in 2023 for Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’.

Despite his age, Nakadai continued to act well into his nineties, most recently performing at a theatre in Japan’s Noto region earlier this year, an area still recovering from a devastating earthquake.

A revered figure in Japanese cinema, Nakadai leaves behind a legacy defined by artistry, discipline and a lifelong devotion to his craft.

(With AFP inputs)