Yujiro Ishihara

Okay, let me be honest with you: Yujiro Ishihara is one of those guys where the word "star" was basically invented to describe him. The man strolls onto a 1950s screen, all 178 centimeters of swagger, and the whole frame just bends toward him without him even trying. I love that he wasn't a one-trick deal either: he crooned smoky ballads like "Brandy Glass" that melt you, threw a mean punch in action roles, then went and founded his own studio because apparently acting and singing weren't enough. And the dude survived a 3% odds heart surgery and came roaring back, which is more dramatic than half his scripts. Gone at 52 feels brutally early, but honestly? He's still the sun this whole genre orbits around. Total legend.

Yujiro Ishihara (December 28, 1934 – July 17, 1987) was a Japanese actor and singer who rose to national stardom after his debut in 1956 with the Nikkatsu film Crazed Fruit, becoming one of the most iconic male stars of the Showa era. He founded Ishihara Productions in 1963 and went on to lead long-running television dramas including Taiyo ni Hoero! and Nishi-bu Keisatsu. He passed away from hepatocellular carcinoma in 1987 at the age of 52.

Name (English)

Yujiro Ishihara

Name (Japanese)

石原裕次郎

Reading

いしはら ゆうじろう

Born

December 28, 1934 – July 17, 1987

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Dog

Origin

Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

Blood type

A

Height

178 cm

Agency

Ishihara Productions (founded 1963; representative)

Agency history

Nikkatsu (1956–1962, exclusive contract then per-title contract)

Active years

1956–1987

Occupation

Actor / Singer / Entrepreneur

Elementary school

Zushi Municipal Zushi Elementary School (earlier: Inaho Elementary School in Otaru)

Junior high

Zushi Municipal Zushi Junior High School

High school

Keio Gijuku High School

University

Keio University, Faculty of Law, Department of Political Science (dropped out)

Debut

1956 — appeared in a minor role in Season of the Sun and starred in Crazed Fruit; also made his singing debut the same year after dropping out of Keio University to join Nikkatsu

Awards & achievements

• 1956 Producers Association New Actor Award (film: Nyubasha)
• 1957 8th Blue Ribbon Award, Best New Actor
• 1963 18th Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Festival Award (film: Alone on the Pacific, first Ishihara Productions work)
• 1987 Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class (posthumous)
• 2000 Kinema Junpo '20th Century Movie Stars — Male Actors' ranked 2nd among Japanese actors

Timeline

1. 1934Born December 28 in Kobe, Hyogo
2. 1956Film debut in a minor role in Season of the Sun; starred in Crazed Fruit and made his singing debut; dropped out of Keio University and joined Nikkatsu
3. 1957Major box-office hits with I Am Waiting and Boy Who Came Back (Arashi wo Yobu Otoko); won Blue Ribbon Award for Best New Actor
4. 1960Married actress Kitahara Mie (later known as Ishihara Makiko)
5. 1963Founded Ishihara Productions; produced and starred in Alone on the Pacific
6. 1972Began appearing in TV drama Taiyo ni Hoero! as the boss character (Tōdō Shunsuke)
7. 1979Began appearing in TV drama Nishi-bu Keisatsu (Western Police) as Daimon Keisuke
8. 1981Suffered a dissecting aortic aneurysm during location filming for Nishi-bu Keisatsu; underwent major surgery at Keio Hospital and survived despite a reported survival rate of about 3%
9. 1987Died July 17 of hepatocellular carcinoma at age 52

Spouse

Ishihara Makiko (former stage name: Kitahara Mie), married 1960; widowed at his death

Children

None (publicly stated)

Parents

Father: Ishihara Kiyoshi (branch manager of Yamashita Kisen in Otaru)

Siblings

Elder brother: Ishihara Shintaro (author and politician)

Hobbies

• Sports cars
• Yachting
• Skiing
• Fishing

Specialties

• Singing
• Action performance

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.ishihara-m.co.jp/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E5%8E%9F%E8%A3%95%E6%AC%A1%E9%83%8E

Tags

• Showa era star
• Nikkatsu
• Ishihara Productions
• Taiyozoku
• Taiyo ni Hoero!
• Nishi-bu Keisatsu
• Hyogo
• Singer-actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.