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Actor Gō Katō Passes Away at 80

Haiyuza Theater Company revealed that its affiliated actor Gō Katō passed away due to gall bladder cancer on June 18. He was 80. A funeral service for Katō's family was held on June 28. Haiyuza Theater Company plans to hold a memorial event at Haiyuza Theater in Tokyo in September.

Katō studied literature and theater at Waseda Univerity in Tokyo, and he made his acting debut in the Ningen no Jōken (The Human Condition) live-action television series in 1962. Katō is perhaps best known for playing the title character Ōoka Tadasuke in the live-action Edo period drama Ōoka Echizen from 1970 to 1999. He played Yogorō Sasahara in the 1967 film Jōi-uchi Hairyō Tsuma Shimatsu (Samurai Rebellion), performing alongside famed actors Toshirō Mifune, Yōko Tsukasa, and Tatsuya Nakadai. He also performed in the Suna no Utsuwa, Kage no Kuruma, and Amagi Goe films, which are all based on works by writer Seichō Matsumoto. More recently, Katō appeared in the 2013 film Fune o Amu (The Great Passage) and in the Konya, Romance Gekijō de (Tonight, at the Movies) film, which premiered on February 10.

The Japanese government awarded Katō with the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2001 and the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2008.

Katō portrayed Otto Frank in the 1995 anime film The Diary of Anne Frank. He played Magomura Kanbei in the 1972 live-action film Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, which is inspired by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's Lone Wolf and Cub manga.

Sources: Haiyuza Theater Company's website, Comic Natalie, Hachima Kikō