Sawamura Ikio

Sawamura Ikio (born Okabe Shizuo) was a diminutive Japanese actor with a distinctively high-pitched voice, making him memorable as a character actor. He originally worked in a department store, but switched to acting when the store was tragically destroyed in a fire.

He joined Toho in 1954 and remained securely employed with the studio for the remainder of his life and career. He became a favorite supporting player of both Kurosawa Akira and Honda Ishirô.

He is best known for playing the corrupt bailiff in Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), but he was equally memorable in numerous ensemble genre roles. He appeared as the fisherman who unwittingly rescues the amnesiac princess in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), and as the mountaineer stumbling across an alien transmitter in Destroy All Monsters (1968).

His final film appearance was as Mafune's loyal, mute butler in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975). He passed away from heart failure in 1975, shortly after the film's release.