was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Kindai Eiga Kyokai with Shindo and Kōzaburō Yoshimura.
He served in the Japanese military in China in the Second Sino-Japanese War and considered himself to have narrowly escaped from death. He was married but also had a mistress and maintained relationships with both women until the end of his life. He was a keen reader of detective stories and a fan of jazz music. He wrote a series of semi-autobiographical essays under the title , meaning "third rate actor". Kaneto Shindo wrote a biography of Tonoyama called Sanmon yakusha no shi,三文役者の死 meaning "The death of a third-rate actor", which he also filmed as By Player.
Filmography (selected) Date Title Role1947Record of a Tenement Gentleman1948President and female clerk Butler Kurokawa1951The Tale of Genji1952Dedication of the Great Buddha1952Avalanche1952Children of Hiroshima1953Epitome1953Life of a Woman1953Jazz musume tanjō1955Wolf1956Shirogane Shinjū1956An Actress1956Fearful Attack of the Flying SaucersDr. Otsuki1957Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate 1958 Night Drum1959My Second Brother1959Good Morning Door-to-door salesman1959Lucky Dragon No. 5Mayor of Yaizu1960The Naked IslandHusband1962Foundry TownNingenKamegoro1963Kanto WandererThe Insect Woman1964OnibabaUshi1965An Innocent WitchYamasanAkuto1965Kuroneko FarmerProfound Desires of the Gods1971A Soul to Devils1972The RendezvousDear Summer SisterTakuzo Sakurada1973The Heart1974The Homeless1976In the Realm of the SensesOld beggar1976Torakku Yarō: Tenka Gomen1977The Life of Chikuzan1977Ballad of OrinCharcoal Man1978Ogin-samaAnkokuji Ekei1978Empire of Passion1979Vengeance Is MineTanejiro Shibata1979Tantei Monogatari (episode 6)Boss of Kyoei Shoji1981EijanaikaEdo PornWoodcarverMuddy River1983The Ballad of Narayama1985Seburi monogatari1986Tree Without LeavesSakuzoComic Magazine1987Zegen1989Black Rain
Books
DateRomanized titleOriginal titleNotesISBN 1969Nihon onna chizu: shizen wa nikutai ni donna eikyo o ataeru ka日本女地図: 自然は、肉体にどんな影響を与えるのかA comparison of women's bodies, particularly their vaginas, in different parts of Japan.1980 Sanmon yakusha anaki den parts one to three三文役者あなあきい伝PART1~PART3
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References
External links
Goo Movies