Eiji Okada; Japanese Actor Had Key Role in ‘Ugly American’

Eiji Okada, a Japanese actor who appeared opposite Marlon Brando in the 1963 film “The Ugly American,” has died of heart failure. He was 75.

Okada, who began his acting career after being discharged from the Japanese Imperial Army at the end of World War II, died Sept. 14.

“Okada gave Japanese film of his time a modern, forward-looking face,” film critic Michihiro Kakii said. “He was a pioneer of his generation.”

Okada came to international prominence in 1959 in the French classic “Hiroshima, Mon Amour,” directed by Alain Resnais. He played an enigmatic architect wrapped up in a torrid love affair with a French nurse, played by Emmanuele Riva.

Brando reportedly recruited Okada for a top role in “The Ugly American,” as the head of a fictional Southeast Asian nation.

Okada is best remembered in Japan for his lead role in “Woman in the Dunes,” directed by Hiroshi Teshigawara and based on the novel by Kobo Abe. He played an insect collector who is forced by villagers to live in the bottom of a sand pit, where he discovers liberation from life’s routines.

His final film, “Love Without a Person,” opens this month in Japan.