In 1950 he helped form the film company Kindai Eiga Kyokai with Shindo and Kōzaburō Yoshimura.

He served in the Japanese military in China in the Second Sino-Japanese War and considered himself to have narrowly escaped from death.

[2] He was married but also had a mistress and maintained relationships with both women until the end of his life.

[2] He wrote a series of semi-autobiographical essays under the title Sanmon Yakusha (三文役者), meaning "third rate actor".

Kaneto Shindo wrote a biography of Tonoyama called Sanmon yakusha no shi,[n 1] meaning "The death of a third-rate actor", which he also filmed as By Player.