Sato Masaru dead at 71

[Aaron Gerow]

Sato Masaru, the film music composer best known for his work for Kurosawa 
Akira, died on the 5th in a Tokyo hospital at the age of 71. The cause of 
death was not released.  Sato was born in Rumoi, Hokkaido, and studied 
under Hayasaka Fumio (the composer of the music for _The Seven Samurai_) 
before starting composing for film on his own in 1952.  Sato is most 
famous for his scores for such Kurosawa films as _Yojimbo_ (the music for 
which I've always liked), _Akahige_, _High and Low_, and _Sanjuro_, but 
he also worked on a lot of films at Toho (including some of the Godzilla 
films) and Nikkatsu (helping establish the musical form for Nikkatsu 
Action), with over 300 films in his filmography.  Other directors he 
consistently worked with include Okamoto Kihachi, Gosha Hideo, and 
Yamamoto Satsuo.  His last score was for the Kurosawa-scripted _Ame 
agaru_.

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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