Biography
Eijirō Tōno (東野英治郎) was a Japanese actor. Born on 17 September 1907 in Tomioka, Gunma, he died on 8 September 1994 in Tokyo. Over a career spanning more than fifty years he appeared in nearly 250 films and over 400 television productions, as well as numerous stage plays. He trained at Meiji University and was a founding member of the Haiyuza Theatre Company.
Tōno is known in the West for supporting roles in films directed by Akira Kurosawa, including Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961), and by Yasujirō Ozu, including Tokyo Story (1953) as Numata and An Autumn Afternoon (1962). He also appeared in High and Low (1963), Red Beard (1965), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) as Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, and his final film A-ge-man (1990). In Japan he starred as the title character in the long-running jidaigeki television series Mito Kōmon from 1969 to 1983.
