Katô Daisuke

Born into a family of entertainers. His father was an assistant director, and his brother, Sawamura Kunitarô, was a kabuki actor. He played kabuki with his brother and then after high school formed an acting trio with Kôno Akitake and Ogimasu Ichikawa.

Joined the military in 1933 and served on the front lines in New Guinea. While in New Guinea he performed bits of theater to raise morale for the troops.

After the war he became an actor for Daiei. There he met director Kurosawa Akira and appeared in his breakout hit Rashomon (1950). He later followed Kurosawa to Toho.

In January 1961 he published his memoir Snow in the South Seas, detailing his wartime experiences in New Guinea. That same year it was adapted as an NHK TV drama and a feature film from Toho, in which Katô played himself.

Continued working into his 60s, unaware he had colon cancer until five months before he succumbed to it in 1975. In an ironic twist, although he played one of the three surviving samurai from Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, he was the first cast member of that group to pass away.

Katô's son Haruyuki married (and later divorced) Kurosawa's daughter Kazuko.