Amamoto Hideyo

Other Name: 天本英世

Age: 99

Birthday: January 2, 1926

Nationality: Japanese

Gender: Male

A prolific Japanese actor, Amamoto Hideyo started out his acting career with the Hayuza group, and was noticed by Toho due to his unusual size and appearance. He started out his career playing several small roles in the late 50's and early 1960's. Amamoto even managed to land a small role in Kurosawa's masterpiece Yojimbo (1961) as a henchmen. Amamoto also played a "snake-handling gangster" in the film Key of Keys (1965), better known to westerners as the Woody Allen film What's Up, Tiger Lily?. Amamoto eventually garnished a cult following in Japan, due to his roles in Toho movies and other Japanese television shows such as Kamen Rider. Kaneko would give Amamoto his last role in the film Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001) as the Prophet Isayama, Amamoto's part in the film was written especially for him. He was credited as Amamoto Hideo later in his career. Amamoto also used the pseudonym of Amamoto Eisei for most of his career, Eisei being a misreading of the kanji in his real name, Hideyo. Amamoto was forcibly drafted into the Japanese army at age 19, an experience that kicked off a lifelong disgust with Japanese society in general, particularly its attitudes towards war and non-Japanese. He was especially fond of Spain and Spanish culture (he was apparently also a Catholic), often stating that he wished to emigrate there. He has also played flamenco guitar on the stage, sometimes in collaboration with his friend and fellow actor Tsuchiya Yoshio. He has written several books about Spain, and spends as much time living there as he can. Despite being the same age or younger than many of his contemporaries, Amamoto’s features made him look much older, and he was often cast as older or more grotesque characters (priests, witches, etc.). He was frequently cast by director Okamoto Kihachi, who referred to Amamoto as his “stamp” on his works. Amamoto is best remembered for playing the arch-villain Dr. Death on the popular Masked Rider television series in the 70s. In 2005, Amamoto “reprised” the role via archive footage for the Masked Rider film reboot. He died on March 23, 2003 from acute pneumonia at the age of 77. (Source: IMDb, TohoKingdom, Godzilla Cineaste).