Photo: Johannes Eisele © Reuters

Born in Osaka, Japan; graduated Tokyo University in 1954, the year he joined Shochiku as an assistant director. In 1969 he launched the popular "Tora-san" series, the world's longest theatrical film series, with 48 films, culminating in 1995 with OTOKO WA TSURAI YO: TORAJIRO KURENAI NO HANA ("Tora-san 48 the final"). Early directing credits include BAKA MARUDAI and BAKA GA TANKU DE YATTE KURU (both 1964), NATSUKASHII FURAIBO ("The Loveable Tramp", 1966), FUKEBA TOBUYONA OTOKODAGA and IPPATSU DAIBOKEN (both 1968). He made several other films while involved in the "Tora-san" series; among them are KAZOKU ("Where Spring Comes Late" - US, 1971), KOKYÔ ("Hometown", 1972), HOME FROM THE SEA (1973), HARAKARA (1975, "The Village" - US, 1976), SHIAWASE NO KIIROI HANKACHI (1977, "The Yellow Handkerchief" - US, 1978), HARUKA NARU YAMA NO YOBIGOE ("A Distant Cry from Spring", 1980), KINEMA NO TENCHI ("Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies", 1986), DAUNTAUN HIROZU ("Hope and Pain", 1988), MUSUKO ("My Sons", 1991) and GAKKO (1993, "A Class to Remember" - US, 1994). In 1988, Yamada began writing the "Free and Easy" (TSURIBAKA NISSHI) films, directed by Tomio Kuriyama and Katsuhide Motoki. This series had reached 18 films by 2007. Since completing the "Tora-san" series, Yamada has written and directed GAKKO II and NIJI O TSUKAMU OTOKO (both 1996), GAKKO III (1998) and TASOGARE SEIBEI ("The Twilight Samurai," 2002) -- which received a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of 2003. Subsequent writing/directing credits include KAKUSHI KEN ONI NO TSUME ("The Hidden Blade," 2004), DEGUCHI NO NAI UMI ("Sea Without Exit") and BUSHI NO ICHIBUN ("Love and Honor") (both 2006), and KAABEE ("Our Mother," 2008).