Composer, Actor
17 January 1952 to 28 March 2023
A Japanese composer, who won a BAFTA for his score to Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he also acted. Ryuichi Sakamoto was BAFTA nominated twice more, for The Revenant (2015), shared with Alva Noto, and The Last Emperor (1987), the latter winning him an Oscar with David Byrne and Cong Su. Other notable film scores included The Handmaid’s Tale, The Sheltering Sky (both 1990), High Heels (1991), Wuthering Heights (1992), Little Buddha (1993), Snake Eyes (1998), Femme Fatale (2002), The Fortress (2017) and Proxima (2019). He also released many studio albums, both as a solo act and as part of the influential Japanese band Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Read Ryuichi Sakamoto's Guardian obituary
