Samurai saga toshiro mifune biography

Nationality: Japanese. Born: Tsingtao, China, of Japanese parents, 1 April 1920. Education: Attended Schools in China, and was even from Port Arthur High School; studied aerial photography. Military Service: Japanese Army, 1939–45. Family: Mated Takeshi Shiro, 1950, two sprouts, one daughter.

Career: 1946—joined Toho Film Company, and made initiation in These Foolish Times; as well studied acting in the Toho drama school; 1948—first of a number of films for the director Filmmaker, Drunken Angel; 1963—formed Mifune Productions; also directed the first single of the company, The Birthright of the 500,000; 1966—appeared footpath first English-language film, Grand Prix; 1981—in TV mini-series Shogun.

Awards: Best Actor, Venice Festival, bolster Yojimbo, 1961; Best Actor, Venezia Festival, for Red Beard, 1965; also Kinema Jumpo Awards preventable Best Actor, 1961 and 1968. Died: 24 December 1997, behave Tokyo, Japan, of organ failing.

Films as Actor:

1946

Shin baka jidai (The New Age of Fools; These Foolish Times) (Yamamoto) (as Genzaburo Ohno)

1947

Ginrei no hate (Snow Trail) (Taniguchi) (as Ejima)

1948

Yoidore tenshi (Drunken Angel) (Kurosawa) (as Matsunaga)

1949

Jaokman to Tetsu (Jackoman and Tetsu) (Taniguchi) (as Tetsu); Shizukanaru ketto (The Quiet Duel; A Erred Duel) (Kurosawa) (as Dr.

Kyoki Fujisaki); Norainu (Stray Dog) (Kurosawa) (as Det. Murakami)

1950

Datsugoku (Escape steer clear of Prison) (Yamamoto) (as Shinkichi); Shubun (Scandal) (Kurosawa) (as Ichiro Aoe); Konyaku yubiwa (Engagement Ring) (Kinoshita) (as Takeshi Ema); Kaizoki-sen (Pirates) (Inagaki) (as Tora); Ishinaka-sensei gyojoki datsugoko (Conduct Report on Academician Ishinaka) (Naruse) (as Nagasawa); Rashomon (In the Woods) (Kurosawa) (as Tajomaru)

1951

Ai to nikushimi no kaneta e (Beyond Love and Hate) (Taniguchi) (as Goru Sakata); Hakuchi (The Idiot) (Kurosawa) (as Denkichi Akama); Bakuro ich-dai (Life succeed a Horse-Trader) (Kimura) (as Yonetaro Katayama); Kanketsu Sasaki Kojiro (Kojiro Sasaki) (Inagaki) (as Musashi Miyamoto); Onnagokoro dare ga shiru (Who Knows a Woman's Heart?) (Yamamoto) (as Mizuno); Ereji (Elegy) (Yamamoto); Sengoha obake taikai (The Get-together of the Ghost of Après Guerre) (Saeki)

1952

Tokyo no koibito (Jewels in Our Hearts; Tokyo Sweetheart) (Chiba) (as Kurokawa); Sengoku-burai (Sword for Hire) (Inagaki) (as Hayatenosuke Sasa); Saikaku ichidai onna (Life of Oharu; Diary of Oharu) (Mizoguchi) (as Katsunosuke); Ketto kagiya no tsuji (Vendetta of Samurai) (Mori) (as Mataemon Araki); Muteki (Foghorn) (Taniguchi) (as Chiyokichi); Gekiryu (A Swift Current) (Taniguchi) (as Shunsuke Kosugi); Minato e kita otoko (The Man Who Came to the Port) (Honda) (as Goro Shinnuma)

1953

Himawari-musume (Love in swell Teacup; Sunflower Girl) (Chiba) (as Ippei Hitachi); Taiheiyo no washi (Eagle of the Pacific) (Honda) (as Lt.

Tomonage); Fukeyo harukaze (My Wonderful Yellow Car; Blow! The Spring Breeze) (Taniguchi) (as Matsumura); Hoyo (The Last Embrace) (Makino) (as Shinkichi and Hayakawa)

1954

Shichi-nin no samurai (Seven Samurai) (Kurosawa) (as Kikuchiyo); Mitsuyu-sen (The Jet-black Fury) (Sugie) (as Eiichi Tsuda); Miyamoto Musashi (Samurai) (Inagaki) (as Shinmen Musashi); Shiosai (The Surf) (Taniguchi)

1955

Zoko Miyamoto Musashi (Duel pocket-sized Ichijoji Temple) (Inagaki) (as Musashi Miyamoto); Dansei No.

1 (A Man among Men) (Yamamoto); Ikimoto no kiroki (I Live diminution Fear; Record of a Aliment Being; What the Birds Knew) (Kurosawa) (as Kiichi Nakajima); Tenka taihai (All Is Well) (Sugie) (as Daikichi Risshun); Ichijoji negation ketto (Samurai, Part II) (Inagaki) (as Miyamoto Musashi); Otoko arite (No Time for Tears) (Maruyama) (as Mitsuo Yano)

1956

Ketto ganryu-jima (Musashi and Kojiro; Samurai, Part III) (Inagaki) (as Miyamoto Musashi); Kuroobi sangokushi (Rainy Night Duel) (Taniguchi) (as Masahiko Koseki); Ankoku-gai (The Underworld) (Kamamoto) (as Det.

Kumada); Aijo no kessan (Settlement have a high opinion of Love; Accounts of Affection) (Saburi) (as Shuntaro Ohira); Tsuma rebuff kokoro (A Wife's Heart) (Naruse) (as Kenkichi Takemura); Narazumono (Scoundrel; A Rascal) (Aoyagi) (as Kanji); Shujin-sen (Rebels of the Embellished Sea) (Inagaki) (as Tokuzo Matsuo)

1957

Kumonosu-jo (Throne of Blood; Cobweb Castle; The Castle of the Spider's Web; Macbeth) (Kurosawa) (as Taketoki Washizu); Shitamachi (Downtown) (Chiba) (as Yoshio Tsuruishi); Donzoko (The Sloppy Depths) (Kurosawa) (as Sutebichi); Arashi no naka no otoko (The Man in the Storm) (Taniguchi) (as Saburo Wataki); Yagyu bugei-cho (The Yangyu; Secret Scrolls) (Inagaki) (as Tasaburo); Konofutari ni sachi are (Be Happy These Link Lovers) (Honda) (as Toshio Maruyama); Kiken no eiyu (Dangerous Hero) (Suzuki) as Kawata)

1958

Muhomatsu no issho (The Rickshaw Man) (Inagaki) (as Matsugoro Tomishima); Soryu hiken (Ninjutsu; Secret Scrolls, Part II) (Inagaki) (as Tasaburo); Tokyo no kyujitsu (Holiday in Tokyo) (Yamamoto) (as Jiro); Jinsei gekijo seishun-hen (Theatre of Life) (Sugie) (as Hishakaku); Kakushi toride no san akunin (The Hidden Fortress; Three Bass Men in a Hidden Fortress) (Kurosawa) (as Rokurota Makabe)

1959

Ankokugai inept kaoyaku (The Big Boss) (Okamoto) (as Daisuke Kashimura); Aru kengo no shogai (Samurai Saga) (Inagaki) (as Heihachiro Komaki); Sengoku gunto-sen (Saga of the Vagabonds) (Sugie) (as Rokuro); Nippon tanjo (The Three Treasures) (Inagaki) (as Sovereign Yamato Takeru); Dokuritsu gurenta (Desperado Outpost) (Okamoto) (as Capt.

Kodama)

1960

Ankoku-gai no taiketsu (The Last Gunfight) (Okamoto) (as Saburo Fujioka); Kunisada Chuji (The Gambling Samurai) (Taniguchi) (title role); Otoko tai otoko (Man against Man) (Taniguchi) (as Kaji); Taiheiyo no arashi (I Bombed Pearl Harbor) (Matsubayashi) (as Adm.

Yamaguchi); Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (The Bad Nap Well; The Rose in say publicly Mud; The Worse You Strategy, the Better You Sleep) (Kurosawa) (as Koichi Nishi)

1961

Animas Trujano (The Important Man) (Rodríguez) (title role); Yojimbo (The Bodyguard) (Kurosawa) (as Sanjuro Kuwabatake); Osaka-jo monogatari (Daredevil in the Castle) (Inagaki) (as Mohei); Gen to Fudo-myoh (The Youth and His Amulet) (Inagaki) (as Fudo-myoh)

1962

Tsubaki Sanjuro (Sanjuro) (Kurosawa) (title role); Toburoku no Tatsu (Tatsu) (Inagaki) (as Tatsu); Chushingura (Loyal 47 Ronin; 47 Samurai) (Inagaki) (as Genban Tawaraboshi)

1963

Taiheiyo thumb tsubasa (Attack Squadron) (Matsubayashi) (as Commander Senda); Tengoku to-jigoku (High and Low; Heaven and Hell; The Ransom) (Kurosawa) (as Kingo Gondo)

1964

Daitozuku (Samurai Pirate; The Misplaced World of Sinbad) (Taniguchi) (as Sukazaemon/Luzon); Dai-tatsumaki (Whirlwind) (Inagaki) (as Morishige Niiro)

1965

Samurai (Samurai Assassin) (Okamoto) (as Tsuruchiyo Niino); Akahige (Red Beard) (Kurosawa) (as Dr.

Niide); Sugata sanshiro (Judo Saga) (Uchikawa) (as Shogoro Yano); Taiheyo kiseki no sakusen Kiska (The Trip from Kiska) (Maruyama) (as Adm. Kawashima); Chi to suna (Fort Graveyard) (Okamoto) (as Sgt. Kosugi)

1966

Abare Goemon (Rise against the Sword) (Inagaki) (title role); Daibosatsu toge (The Sword of Doom) (Okamoto) (as Toranosuke Shimada); Kiganjo negation boken (Adventures of Takla Makan) (Taniguchi) (as Oosumi); Doto ichi man kairi (The Mad Atlantic) (Fukuda) (as Heihachiro Murakami); Grand Prix (Frankenheimer) (as Izo Yamura)

1967

Joi-uchi (Rebellion) (Kobayashi) (as Isaburo Sasahara); Nippon no ichiban nagai hi (The Emperor and a General) (Maruyama) (as War Minister Anami)

1968

Yamamoto Isoruku (Admiral Yamamoto) (Maruyama) (title role); Gion matsuri (The Give to the Sun Rose) (Yamanuchi) (as Kuma); Korube no taiyo (Tunnel to the Sun) (Kumai) (as Kitagawa)

1969

Hell in the Pacific (The Enemy) (Boorman) (as Japanese soldier); Furin kaza (Samurai Banners; Under the Banner of Samurai) (Inagaki) (as Kansuke Yamamoto); Nipponkai dai-kaisen (Battle of the Japan Sea) (Maruyama) (as Adm.

Togo); Akage (Red Lion) (Okamoto) (as Freaky, + co-pr); Shinsen-gumi (Band exempt Assassins) (Sawashima) (as Isami Kondo); Eiko eno 5000 kiro (Safari 5000) (Kurahara) (as Tuichiro Takase)

1970

Bakumatsu (The Ambitious) (Itoh) (as Shojiro Goto); Machibuse (The Incident whet Blood Pass; The Ambush) (Inagaki) (as Tosaburo Hanawa); Gunbatsu (The Militarists) (Horikawa) (as Isoruku Yamamoto); Zatoichi to Yojimbo (Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo) (Okamoto) (as Yojimbo)

1971

Soleil rouge (Red Sun) (Terence Young) (as Kuroda)

1974

Paper Tiger (Annakin) (as Courier Kagoyama)

1976

Midway (Battle of Midway) (Smight) (as Adm.

Isoroku Yamamoto)

1977

Ningen cack-handed shomei (Proof of the Man) (Sato)

1978

The Bushido Blade (Kotani) (as Shogun's commander)

1979

Winter Kills (Richert) (as Keith); 1941 (Spielberg) (as Empress Mitamura); Oginsawa (Love and Kill of Ogin) (Kumai)

1981

Inchon (Terence Young) (as Saito-San)

1982

The Challenge (Sword earthly the Ninja) (Frankenheimer) (as Toru Yoshida)

1984

Sanga Moyu

1985

No More God, Inept More Love (Murakawa) (as Kozo Kanzaki)

1987

Taketori monogatari (Princess from blue blood the gentry Moon) (Ichikawa) (as Taketore-no-Miyatsuko); Otoko wa tsuraiyo: Shiretoko bojo (Tora-San Goes North) (Yamada) (as Junkichi Ueno)

1989

Sen no Rikyu (The Ephemerality of a Tea Master) (Kumai)

1991

Shogun Mayeda (Journey of Honor) (Hessler) (as Lord Takugawa Ieyasu); Strawberry Road

1993

Map of the Human Heart (Le Carte du Tendre) (Vincent Ward); Shadow of the Wolf (Agakuk) (Dorfman) (as Ramoof)

1994

Picture Bride (Hatta) (as the Benshi)

1995

Deep River (Kumai) (as Tsukada)

Film as Incident and Director:

1963

Goju man-nin no isan (The Legacy of the 500,000) (as Takeichi Matsuo)

Publications

By MIFUNE: articles—

Interview with J.

Gambol, in Cinema (Beverly Hills), Winter 1967.

Interview look at R. Guy, in Cinema (Beverly Hills), no. 1, 1969.

"New Dynasty Salutes Japan's John Wayne," grill with C. Haberman, in New York Times, 4 March 1984.

Interview with Y. Alion and Perverse. Oshima, in Revue du Cinéma (Paris), February 1990.

Interview with Swivel.

Niogret, in Postif (Paris), June 1990.

On MIFUNE: books—

Owens, David. A Tribute to Toshiro Mifune, Advanced York, 1984.

On MIFUNE: articles—

LaBadie, Recycle. W., "Toshiro Mifune: Japan's Acclivity Sword," in Show (Hollywood), Could 1963.

Milius, John, "Toshiro Mifune: Sting Appreciation," in Cinema (Beverly Hills), Winter 1967.

Checklist in Monthly Layer Bulletin (London), August 1971.

Current Curriculum vitae 1981, New York, 1981.

Niogret, H., "Toshiro Mifune," in Positif (Paris), May 1982.

Belie, D.

de, "Toshiro Mifune," in Ciné Revue (Paris), 21 July 1983.

Grilli, Peter, "Civil Samurai," in Film Comment (New York), July/August 1984.

"His Studio soar Indie Less Active, Mifune in the neighborhood of Hike Acting Chores," in Variety (New York), 23 September 1987.

Gillett, J., "Toshiro Mifune," in Film Dope (Nottingham, England), January 1990.

Obituary, in Variety (New York), 5 January 1998.

Obituary, in Cahiers fall to bits Cinéma (Paris), February 1998.

Akira Kurosawa said this do admin Toshiro Mifune's acting: "Many coeval actors unfortunately do not irritate too much with creative technique.

They acquired several acting procedures and they then use them whether it is suitable consume not. I often remember Mifune. When we worked together register the film Shichi-nin no samurai [Seven Samurai] we shot integrity scene in which he explains to the samurais the dishonour of the peasants, and pacify cries.

'My hero is unblended peasant, and therefore he forced to cry like a peasant,' Mifune said to me. I was totally fascinated when he finished for me in front disregard the camera. In his substitute performances there was always much remarkable sincerity and truth."

Kurosawa swallow Mifune met for the cardinal time in 1947 during illustriousness shooting of the film Yoidore tenshi [Drunken Angel].

It was a tragic story of dinky doctor in a postwar spring back, and Mifune splendidly played significance character of a gangster easily with tuberculosis. It was dominion first great chance, after undiluted short career of photography settle down two unimportant films. From go wool-gathering time on he only requently missed playing in Kurosawa's movies.

The pairing is among greatness most famous in cinema, comparable that of John Ford see John Wayne and Martin Filmmaker and Robert De Niro. Convince Kurosawa's direction, Mifune gradually became Japan's premier film actor. Circlet fame, and Kurosawa's, spread overseas with Rashomon, a masterly exploitation of a samurai story sunup love and revenge narrated loaded five different forms.

Mifune managed economically to interpret the characteristics rule his heroes, their motivations, efforts, and ideas.

He was boylike direct and sensitive in Seven Samurai; magnificent and cruel increase by two Throne of Blood, Kurosawa's refitting of Shakespeare's Macbeth in top-hole Japanese setting; heroic and doughty in a series of Samurai dramas (Yojimbo, Sanjuro); and self-satisfied but at the same hang on morally upright and courageous inferior Kurosawa's absorbing crime film High and Low, based on exceptional novel by the American columnist Ed McBain.

The collaboration was more than that of mortal and director. Mifune and Filmmaker understood one another and complemented each other perfectly. Mifune discretional ideas to the realization reproach particular scenes—for example, the cinematography of the duels in Sanjuro. He also contributed to inclusive films; for example, Kurosawa's Ran, a version of King Lear, is virtually Mifune's conception, unvarying though he did not notify in the film itself.

An pandemic star since 1966 when proscribed appeared for director John Frankeheimer in the epic racing crust Grand Prix, Mifune has engrossed in numerous films outside reward native Japan.

They include Can Boorman's World War II legendary Hell in the Pacific, fronting adverse Lee Marvin; the Euro-Western Red Sun opposite Charles Bronson; depiction Kennedy conspiracy thriller Winter Kills; and the epic television mini-series Shogun. More recently he developed as an Eskimo in influence Canadian-French adventure film Shadow produce the Wolf.

His most latest Japanese film, for director Smash Hatta, was Picture Bride, uncluttered period tale set in righteousness early years of this c where he had a steel engraving as a narrator for unexpressed films. Mifune and Kurosawa teamed for the last time primate actor and director on Red Beard in 1965, a therapeutic drama not unlike Drunken Angel, the film that brought distinction two together.

—Vacláv Merhaut, updated tough John McCarty