Biography
Jūzō Itami was a Japanese actor, screenwriter and film director. Born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto on 15 May 1933, he took his professional name from his father, the pre-war director Mansaku Itami. He worked as an actor for two decades before directing his first feature, The Funeral (1984), at the age of 51.
Itami wrote and directed all his films, which were comic satires on Japanese customs and institutions. His second film, Tampopo (1985), which he also produced, brought him international recognition. Subsequent works included A Taxing Woman (1987) and A Taxing Woman's Return (1988). He was married to actress Nobuko Miyamoto, who starred in many of his films.
Itami died in Tokyo on 20 December 1997 after falling from the roof of his office building. The death was officially ruled a suicide.
