{{Short description|Japanese actor (1903–1983)}} {{Infobox person | name = Chiezō Kataoka | image = Chiezō Kataoka.jpg | alt = | caption = Chiezō Kataoka in 1920s or 1930s | native_name = 片岡 千恵蔵 | native_name_lang = ja | birth_date = {{birth date|1903|3|30}} | birth_place = Gunma Prefecture, Japan | death_date = {{Death date and age|1983|3|31|1903|3|30}} | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Film actor | years_active = 1912–1983 }} '''Masayoshi Ueki''' (植木 正義, ''Ueki Masayoshi''; March 30, 1903 – March 31, 1983), known professionally as {{nihongo|'''Chiezō Kataoka'''|片岡 千恵蔵|Kataoka Chiezō}}, was a Japanese film and television actor most famous for his starring roles in jidaigeki.
==Career== Born as Masayoshi Ueki in 1903, in Gunma Prefecture, he was raised in Tokyo. As a child he began training in Kabuki in a theatre troupe run by Kataoka Nizaemon XI, and appeared in one film in 1923.<ref name=KJ>{{cite book|last=Okabe|first=Ryū|title=Nihon eiga haiyū zenshū: danyūhen|year=1979|publisher=Kinema Junpō|location=Tokyo|pages=144–148|chapter=Kataoka Chiezō}}</ref> He eventually entered the movie world for good in 1927 first at Makino Productions, but following the lead of other former Makino stars like Tsumasaburō Bandō, Chiezō started his own independent production company, Chiezō Productions, the next year.<ref name=KJ /> That studio became the longest lasting of the independent, star-centered productions, in part because it had such talented directors as Mansaku Itami and Hiroshi Inagaki, and produced such masterworks as ''Akanishi Kakita''.<ref name=Tomita>{{cite book|title=Chie Puro jidai|year=1997|publisher=Firumu Ātosha|isbn=4-8459-9769-X|editor=Mika Tomita}}</ref> He folded the company in 1937 and joined Nikkatsu.
Specializing in ''jidaigeki'', he played the lead in various films before and during World War II. During the Occupation of Japan, however, when Allied censors restricted the production of ''jidaigeki'', Chiezō also appeared in a series of eleven films as Bannai Tarao, a modern era detective who is a master of disguise.<ref name=kotobank>{{cite web|title=Kataoka Chiezō|url=http://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%89%87%E5%B2%A1%E5%8D%83%E6%81%B5%E8%94%B5|work=Nihon jinmei daijiten+Plus|publisher=Kōdansha|accessdate=3 February 2012|archive-date=27 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027135809/http://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%89%87%E5%B2%A1%E5%8D%83%E6%81%B5%E8%94%B5|url-status=live}}</ref> He eventually joined Toei, where he also served on the board of directors. Among his starring roles for Toei were eighteen films in which he played Tōyama no Kin-san<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/jinbutsu/detail.cgi?das_id=D0009250531_00000|title=Chiezō Kataoka profile|work=NHK|accessdate= August 4, 2021}}</ref> and a three-part ''Daibosatsu Tōge.'' Another role was in ''Akō Rōshi'', a drama based on the Forty-seven Ronin. Later, he portrayed the father of Ōoka Tadasuke in the television series ''Ōoka Echizen.'' His career spanned six decades.
==Family== His son, Yoshiharu Ueki, a former pilot, was named the president of Japan Airlines in January 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=JAL names ex-pilot as new president|url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1177358/1/.html|publisher=Channelnewsasia.com|accessdate=22 January 2013|archive-date=21 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121012255/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1177358/1/.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Filmography == [[File:Chiyari Fuji poster.jpg|thumb|Chiezō Kataoka in the poster for ''Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji'' (1955).]] * ''Chūkon giretsu: Jitsuroku Chūshingura'' (1928) * ''The Peerless Patriot'' (国士無双 Kokushi musō) (1932) * ''Akanishi Kakita'' (赤西蠣太) (1936) * ''Singing Lovebirds'' (鴛鴦歌合戦 Oshidori utagassen) (1939) * ''Bannai Tarao'' (多羅尾伴内 Tarao Bannai) (1946) * ''Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji'' (血槍富士 Chiyari Fuji) (1955) * ''The Kuroda Affair'' (Kuroda sōdō) (1956) * ''Akō Rōshi: Ten no Maki, Chi no Maki'' (赤穂浪士 天の巻 地の巻) (1956) * ''Ninkyō Shimizu-minato'' (任侠清水港 Ninkyō Shimizu-minato) (1957) * ''Dai-bosatsu tōge'' (大菩薩峠) (1957) * ''Kunisada Chūji'' (1958) * ''Akō Rōshi'' (赤穂浪士 Akō Rōshi) (1961) * ''Ōoka Echizen'' (TV series) (1970) * ''Amigasa Jūbei'' (TV series) (1974), Nakane Masafuyu * ''Sanada Yukimura no Bōryaku'' (1979), Sanada Masayuki
==Honours== *Medal with Purple Ribbon (1971) *Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (1977)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Chiezō Kataoka}} *{{IMDb name|0441154}} *{{jmdb name|id=0344390|name=Kataoka Chiezō}} *[https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/jinbutsu/detail.cgi?das_id=D0009250531_00000 Chiezō Kataoka at NHK]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kataoka, Chiezo}} Category:1903 births Category:1983 deaths Category:Japanese male silent film actors Category:Film studio executives Category:20th-century Japanese male actors Category:Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class