Yusaku Matsuda Information & Yusaku Matsuda Links at HealthHaven.com

Yusaku Matsuda (松田優作, Matsuda Yūsaku^?, September 21, 1949 – November 6, 1989) was a Japanese actor. Yusaku was born in Shimonoseki city in Yamaguchi Prefecture to a Japanese father and a Zainichi Korean mother. His date was wrongly recorded as 1950 on his birth records due to a parental error in filing a report.

He became an actor when he was 23 as a rookie police officer, the "Jeans Detective", for the wildly popular 1970s Japanese TV detective drama called Taiyō ni hoero! (太陽にほえろ! "Bark at the Sun") in Japan. Apart from this role, his other defining role on television was in Tantei Monogatari (detective story), in which he starred as an incompetent private detective. He featured in many other TV shows and movies. He specialized in physical action movies. The 1989 movie Black Rain—directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia—opened the door for Matsuda as an international actor. However, shortly after he made this movie, he died due to bladder cancer. He was survived by his second wife and three young children (including Ryuhei And Shota, both of whom became actors). He was buried in Nishitama cemetery, Akiruno, Tokyo (Article in Japanese)).

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Television

[edit] Film

[edit] Characters modeled after him

"Aokiji", the role of a Marine Admiral in "One Piece" (manga).

"Yagyu Jubei (柳生十兵衛)", the protagonist in "Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny" (video game).

"Spike Spiegel", the main character in the series "Cowboy Bebop"

"Jinpei Matsuda", a detective from the manga and anime "Case Closed"

[edit] Honours

The asteroid 79333 Yusaku was named in his honour on 1 June 2007.

[edit] External links