Arts & Entertainment

Hisaya Morishige

Renowned actor Hisaya Morishige died in a hospital in Tokyo on Tuesday morning, it has been learned. He was 96.

Morishige, whose versatile activities ranged from TV, films, theater, radio to singing, died of old age at 8:16 a.m. on Tuesday. He was the first entertainer outside the field of classical Japanese performing arts to receive the Order of Culture.

Born in Hirakata, Osaka, Morishige joined a drama club when he was a student at Waseda University. He left the prestigious school when he was a sophomore to join the Toho Shingekidan troupe.

He subsequently became a member of theatrical groups such as Toho Gekidan and Roppa Ichiza, and got acquainted with playwright and stage director Kazuo Kikuta and actor Kyu Sazanka.

Morishige became an announcer for public broadcaster NHK in 1939 and worked at a broadcasting station in China before returning to Japan in 1946.

He made his film debut in the Toho movie titled "Joyu" (actress) in 1947. After performing in the play "Kane no Naru Oka" (written by Kikuta) the following year, he garnered popularity in satirical comedies. He started appearing in the NHK radio program "Yukai na Nakama" in 1950.

Morishige went on to stardom through his role in the 1952 movie "Santo Juyaku." The box office hit eventually spawned the popular movie series starring Morishige as a company president and a sequel series called "Ekimae." The entertaining movie series depicted what were described as "the salarymen generation" and "the leisure generation" in Japan.

Meanwhile, the actor also appeared in literary productions such as "Keisatsu Nikki," "Meoto Zenzai" and "Kamisaka Shiro no Hanzai," which turned out to be his representative works. He also starred in the long-lasting radio serial "Nichiyo Meisakuza," which started in 1957.