Biography
Someshō Matsumoto was a Japanese actor. Born Nomura Hachirō on 20 March 1903 in Ushigome, Tokyo, he was adopted into a Nakamura family in 1915. He entered kabuki in 1923 as a disciple of Matsumoto Kōshirō VII and took the stage name Matsumoto Someshō upon becoming nadai in 1935. He performed with the Zenshinza troupe from 1942 to 1956.
Matsumoto moved into film acting in 1956 and appeared in more than sixty productions for studios including Nikkatsu, Toho and Toei until 1971. His credits include the role of Construction Company President Hatano in Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well (1960), a part in Onibaba (1964), Dr Onuki in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and the Alien Expert in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). He returned to kabuki in 1971 with the support of Onoe Shōroku II and gave his final stage performance in April 1985. He died on 12 August 1985 in Tokyo.
