The Crazy Life of the Legendary Noboru Ando: Movie Star by Day, Gangster by Night
Yakuza members are rarely welcomed in Japanese society: though omnipresent, they’re rejected from the “regular” side of life.
Laws and conditions restrain them harshly from leading normal lives, so the mobsters literally live as outcasts and hardly have opportunities to redeem themselves.
“All yakuza have to be actors to survive”, said the notorious celebrity actor Noboru Ando. He was one of the lucky Japanese gangsters to have escaped the cruelty of living in the yakuza circles and took off thanks to his talent and poise. Impeccably cool and naturally nonchalant, the Japanese ex-yakuza passed in 2015, but lead a furiously eventful life.
Ando was born in 1926 in Tokyo. He was expelled from school twice consecutively in his teenage years, before enrolling in the military. Post-war, he enrolled in university but dropped out to continue his illicit activities. That’s when Ando formed his gang, the Ango-gumi, and cheffed the yakuza family. When the raging Noboru Ando sent one of his men to shoot an opponent, he was sentenced to six years in jail.
At his release, the Ando-gumi was no more, and the ex-yakuza head chef was broke and desperate. That’s when he got his first role, in a film called Blood and Rules, and his role was to literally play himself. From there, his acting career skyrocketed. Though most of his roles were in yakuza films, encouraged by his peers and his fame, Ando wrote books about self-help and his experience as a mobster, produced occasionally, and also sang. His father is said to be from samurai lineage, which may or may not be why Ando has shown so much honor and dedication in his life.
He’s not as known in the West, but Noboru Ando is a historical figure in Japanese cinema and crime. Revolutionary Japanese directors like Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike have worked alongside him. Throughout his life, he instilled inspiration and courage in those around him and fueled the incessant wonder we have toward the obscure and daunting yakuza culture.
