Japanese actor-directors

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

David asked,

>Takeshi Kitano strikes me as a unique figure in Japanese film history--the
>only major actor/director, i.e. a director who often stars in his own
>films, an actor who also directs himself.  While Takeshi is not in all of
>his films, he does star in many of them.  Can anyone think of another such
>figure in Japanese cinema history?

The existence of figures who direct movies in which they themselves star 
is, I 
think, a factor determined in part by the strength of the studio system 
and its attendant division of labor.  When the studio system was strong 
(mostly from the 30s to the early 1960s), one finds very few 
actor/directors (only the examples like Saburi and Tanaka whom Li cited 
who never, as far as I know, directed themselves.  One can add Shima Koji 
and Kosugi Isamu to the list of actors turned directors).

The cases one does find then, I think, occur before or after the heyday 
of the studio system.  Thus, in the early to the mid 1920s, when the 
studio system was still being formed, one does see examples like Kinugasa 
Teinosuke, who did direct himself in one or two early films.  I know 
Makino 
Masahiro did act in films directed by his father for which he was also 
assistant director. I don't know for sure, but it's possible he also 
appeared in some of the early films he directed.  In those days, there 
was not yet as  clear a division of labor, especially in a family-run 
company like Makino Puro,
and one often wore several hats.

The actor/director reappears after the studio system breaks down in 
the 1960s and 70s, often in the person of the rebel.  I think the 
important figure here is Katsu Shintaro, because his independant 
production company, itself a deviation from the studio norm, was combined 
with an alternative to the established division of labor when Katsushin 
started directing his own films.  (Of course, this was also tied into his 
rebellious star persona.)  Its interesting that another example is 
Mishima in _Yukoku_.  Hidari Sachiko starred in the one feature film she 
directed: _Toi ippon no michi_.

Another recent exampls: Tsukamoto Shinya is one of the leads in his own 
_Tokyo Fist_.

I could probably think of other examples, but it's late.

Aaron Gerow
YNU