Hideji Ōtaki

I love that there are actors you recognize before you even see their face, and Hideji Ōtaki is one of mine — that sandpaper voice, half a growl and half a sigh, is instantly his. He came up the long way, grinding through stage work with the Gekidan Mingei troupe in Niigata before the screen ever found him, and you can feel those decades of craft in how he'd anchor a scene from the very edge of the frame. He played stubborn old men better than almost anyone, but there was always this flicker of warmth underneath the bluster, a dignity that never tipped into caricature. The honors — the Medal of Honor, being named a Person of Cultural Merit — feel almost beside the point. I just miss that weathered face and that voice. A real one, that guy.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Hideji Ōtaki (1925–2012) was a Japanese stage and screen actor born in Niigata Prefecture. A long-standing member of the theatrical company Gekidan Mingei, he built his reputation through decades of stage work before becoming a widely recognised presence in Japanese film and television. He received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1988 and was designated a Person of Cultural Merit in 2011. He passed away on October 2, 2012.

Name (English)

Hideji Ōtaki

Name (Japanese)

大滝秀治

Reading

おおたき ひでじ

Born

June 6, 1925 – October 2, 2012

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Ox

Origin

Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Active years

1950 - 2012

Occupation

Actor

Awards & achievements

• 1977 — Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor
• 1988 — Medal with Purple Ribbon
• 2011 — Person of Cultural Merit

Works summary

Appearances

407 (1952–2012)

By year

1952: 3, 1953: 2, 1954: 1, 1955: 1, 1957: 1, 1958: 3, 1959: 8, 1960: 11, 1961: 12, 1962: 10, 1963: 6, 1964: 9, 1965: 6, 1966: 3, 1967: 6, 1968: 2, 1969: 3, 1970: 6, 1971: 4, 1972: 6, 1973: 13, 1974: 8, 1975: 16, 1976: 17, 1977: 17, 1978: 14, 1979: 6, 1980: 8, 1981: 7, 1982: 5, 1983: 6, 1984: 5, 1985: 6, 1986: 10, 1987: 4, 1988: 6, 1989: 4, 1990: 10, 1991: 7, 1992: 3, 1993: 5, 1994: 1, 1995: 5, 1997: 2, 1998: 2, 1999: 1, 2000: 6, 2001: 5, 2002: 4, 2003: 4, 2004: 6, 2005: 2, 2006: 7, 2007: 5, 2008: 9, 2009: 9, 2010: 11, 2011: 4, 2012: 1

Debut work

かもめ

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttp://www.gekidanmingei.co.jp/ootaki.html
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E6%BB%9D%E7%A7%80%E6%B2%BB
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4388629

Tags

• from Niigata Prefecture
• actor

Last updated

2026-08-26

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.