Career
Born in Gunma Prefecture, he began acting at the Nikkatsu studio after dropping out of Nihon University and made his film debut in 1942. In a career that spanned 65 years, he appeared in over 250 films, most famously in the "Company President" (Shachō) comedy films made at Toho, where he worked alongside Hisaya Morishige, Daisuke Kato, Norihei Miki, and others There he helped define the popular image of the postwar salaryman.
Kobayashi appeared in films made by such notable directors as Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Kihachi Okamoto.
He continued to give powerful performances after largely moving to television in the late 1960s. He died on 16 September 2010 of heart failure at the age of 86.