Keiji Sada (佐田 啓二, Sada Keiji, December 9, 1926 – August 17, 1964) is the stage name for a Japanese cinema actor active from the late-1940s to the early 1960s. His real name was Kanichi Nakai. He won the award for best actor at the 7th Blue Ribbon Awards for Anata Kaimasu and Taifū Sōdōki. He was the father of the actor Kiichi Nakai and actress Kie Nakai.

Biography

Sada was born in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, to a merchant class family. After graduating from the 2nd Kyoto Municipal Commercial School, he entered the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University in Tokyo. While a student, he roomed at a boarding house owned by the actor Shuji Sano, and on graduation was offered a position at Shochiku Studios in Kanagawa. He also was given his stage name by Shugi Sada.

In his debut appearance in 1947, Phoenix, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, Sada was paired with Kinuyo Tanaka in a love scene. As Tanaka was already a big-name movie star, this was an immediate boost for Sada’s career. Later that year, he was selected for the lead role in Kane no Naru Oka (鐘の鳴る丘), a movie adaptation of a popular NHK radio drama.

Sada’s career took off in the 1950s, and he starred in an average of eight to ten movies per year. In 1956, he was awarded the Mainichi Film Award and Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor in Anata Kaimasu, a movie about a professional baseball scout, directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

Sada was killed in an automobile accident in Nirasaki, Yamanashi on August 17, 1964, while returning from his summer cottage in the Tateshina Mountains of Nagano Prefecture. His memorial services were held in Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo with thousands of fans attending; however, his grave is at the temple of Engaku-ji in Kamakura.