Born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Tsuruta was raised in Osaka by his grandmother, following his parents' divorce.

[1] Tsuruta was studying at Kansai University when he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in 1944.

[2] After the war he joined Koukichi Takada [jp]'s theater troupe and made his film debut at Shochiku in 1948 with Yūkyō no Mure, gaining a female following for playing handsome leads.

Prior, a romance with actress Keiko Kishi made headlines and Shochiku forced the two to end the relationship.

He notably played Sasaki Kojirō in Toho's Samurai Trilogy (1954–1956), opposite Toshirō Mifune.