After graduating from Hanazono High School, Nagato entered into Ritsumeikan University's Department of Literature but dropped out.

Former Hanshin Tigers coach Yoshio Yoshida attended Ritsumeikan at the same time as Nagato but also dropped out.

During his school years he took a temporary break from acting but after the war he joined the entertainment company Nikkatsu where he resumed film-making.

He starred in the first installment book-turned-movie Taiyouzoku series, Season of the Sun, with his co-star, Yujiro Ishihara who debuted with this movie.

Combined with director Shohei Imamura, the movie left him with the reputation of having acting and gave him the nickname of "Nikkatsu's Billboard Star".

He also worked together alongside other celebrities born in the same year as him (1934): Yujiro Ishihara, Kinya Aikawa, Koizumi Ohashi, Ichiro Zaitsu, Jiro Sakagami, Shunji Fujimura, Gorō Mutsumi, Shuichiro Moriyama to form the friendship association Showa 9 Nenkai (昭和9年会).

Junko Ikeuchi, who was among the people included in the book under her real name, voiced a strong objection in response.

He went on numerous different celebrity gossip shows for interviews about the event and repeatedly slammed his book against the desk while disparaging it.

After a long time Nagato recovered from the incident and even went back to thriving, performing mainly antagonist or villain roles in television dramas.

In his last years, Nagato devoted himself to making amends with his wife for all his affairs (and the scandal caused by the book) and became her caregiver when she was diagnosed with dementia.

At a press conference held at the Meiji Theater the day Minamida died, Nagato stated, with tears in his eyes, "From now on, I will step into a world without my wife.

Aimi Higa, who co-starred with him in DonDon Hare, wrote a comment on her blog in memory of Nagato.