Hideyo Amamoto  Hideyo Amamoto (天本英世)
  Actor
  Date of birth:
  January 2nd, 1926
  Fukuoka, Japan
  Date of death:
  March 23rd, 2003
  Fukuoka, Japan
Acting Filmography

Biography

Best known for his role of Dr. Who in King Kong Escapes (1967) and Dr. "Death" Shinigami in the Kamen Rider TV series, Hideyo Amamoto was initially setting himself up for a job in politics. This was after a rough patch in World War II, from which Amamoto was drafted into and received several sanctions from rebelling against superiors. After the war, in 1948, he attended the Tokyo Imperial University's Law Faculty under their political department. He dreamed of being a diplomat, but was dissatisfied with current political attitudes in the country. Disillusioned, Amamoto dropped out of University to pursue a career in the arts instead.

Amamoto started out his acting career with the Hayuza group. He landed his first theater performance at age 28 in 1954. He was noticed by Toho due to his "unusual size and appearance" alongside his acting skills. The firm then hired him to work in their films, signing the actor to an exclusive contract in 1958.

Working for Toho, under the stage name Eisei Amamoto for most of his career, the actor started out playing several small parts in the late 1950's and early 1960's. He was typically cast in villainous roles, most often as a henchman for a film's main villain. He rarely took center stage in a movie, although turned heads when he took the main role as Dr. Who in King Kong Escapes (1967). The was followed up by a role as Shinpei Inami, a Toy Maker, in All Monsters Attack (1969), playing a fatherly figure to a small boy which was well outside of his normal typecast roles. Amamoto eventually garnished a cult following in Japan, due to his performances in Toho movies and other Japanese television shows such as Kamen Rider.

Director Shusuke Kaneko would give Amamoto his last role in the film Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001) as the Prophet Isayama. Kaneko wrote the part in the film especially for Amamoto.

Other names: Eisei Amamoto (あまもと えいせい)


Acting Toho Filmography

Date      Title ROLE Type
1959 Samurai Saga   Produced
1959 Monkey Sun   Produced
1959 The Three Treasures Spectator of Gods' Dance Produced
1959 The Big Boss Koyama Produced
1960 The Secret of the Telegian Onishi's Henchman Produced
1960 Westward Desperado Guerrilla Leader Produced
1960 Man Against Man Hitman Produced
1960 The Gambling Samurai   Produced
1961 Daredevil in the Castle Interpreter Produced
1961 Yojimbo Yahachi, Seibei's Henchman Produced
1961 The Scarlet Man   Produced
1961 Blueprint of Murder   Produced
1962 Gorath Drunk Produced
1962 Chushingura Takano, of the Chunagons Produced
1963 Matango Humanoid Matango Produced
1963 Atragon Mu Head Priest Produced
1963 Samurai Pirate Granny the Witch Produced
1963 Interpol Code 8 Shu Produced
1963 Warring Clans Yanagihara, Suntory Employee Produced
1963 The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman   Produced
1963 Young Swordsman Port Ronin Produced
1964 Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster Wu, Butler Produced
1964 Dogora Maki, Safecracker Produced
1964 Oh! My Bomb!   Produced
1965 Key of Keys Ikeguchi, Snake Handling Gangster Produced
1965 Samurai Assassin Matazaburo Hagiwara Produced
1965 Fort Graveyard Shiga Produced
1966 The Adventure of Taklamakan Witch Produced
1966 Ebirah Horror of the Deep Red Bamboo Naval Officer Produced
1966 Rise Against the Sword Heiroku Produced
1966 Sword of Doom   Distributed
1967 King Kong Escapes Dr. Who Produced
1967 Epoch of Murder Madness Shogo Mizorogi Produced
1967 Japan's Longest Day Sasaki, Captain Produced
1967 The Killing Bottle ZZZ Assassin Produced
1968 Kill! Gendayu Shimada Produced
1968 The Tigers: The World Is Waiting for Us Heraclues Produced
1969 All Monsters Attack Shinpei Inami, Toy Maker Produced
1969 Portrait of Hell   Produced
1969 Red Lion Gensai, Doctor Produced
1970 Crazy Raid on Shimizu Port   Produced
1971 Battle of Okinawa   Produced
1971 The Wolves Assassin Distributed
1974 Lupin the 3rd: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy Thug Produced
1978 The Blue Stigma   Produced
1990 Hong Kong Paradise   Produced
1991 My Soul Is Slashed Ono, Caretaker Produced
1991 Rainbow Kids Kushida, Butler Distributed
2000 Keizoku: The Movie Man Selling Goldfish Distributed
2001 Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack Hirotoshi Isayama, Prophet Produced