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Biography of
Toshirô Mifune

Mini biography
Born to missionary parents working in China, he grew up there and attended Port Arthur (China) High School. After graduation, he studied photography, then entered the army for the duration of the Second World War. In 1947, he took a test for 'new faces' at Toho Studios, but failed. However, he caught the eye of director Kajiro Yamamoto, who recommended him to director Senkichi Taniguchi, thus leading to Mifune's first film role in Shin Baka Jidai (1947). Mifune then met and bonded with director Akira Kurosawa, and the two joined to become the most prominent actor-director pairing in all Japanese cinema. Beginning with Yoidore Tenshi (1948), Mifune appeared in sixteen of Kurosawa's films, most of which have become world-renowned classics. In Kurosawa's pictures, especially Rashomon (1950), Mifune would become most famous Japanese actor in the world. A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but had as well the depth to plumb intricate and subtle dramatic parts. A personal rift during the filming of Akahige (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries. He was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (for Yojimbo (1961) and Akahige (1965)). In 1963, he formed his own production company and directed one film and produced several others. In his later years, he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries "Shogun" (1980), and has appeared infrequently in cameo roles since.

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Trivia

Learned English to portray the character. Izo Yamura, in GRAND PRIX (1966).

(October 1997) Ranked #90 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.

In the Japanese animated series "Mach gogo" (known here in the U. S. as Speed Racer), the hero was named Go Mifune; the name was chosen in tribute to Toshiro Mifune.
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Personal quotes

Of Akira Kurosawa: "I am proud of nothing I have done other than with him."

Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Actor. (b. Apr. 1, 1920, Tsingtao, China.) Mifune is perhaps the screen's ultimate warrior, if only because he's portrayed that type in infinite variety. He has been brash and reckless inThe Seven Samurai (1954), stoic and droll inYojimbo (1961) and its sequel Sanjuro (1962), paranoid and irrational inThrone of Blood (1957), and swashbucklingly heroic inThe Hidden Fortress (1958). All of the preceding films were directed by Akira Kurosawa, who is responsible for shaping Mifune's rugged, imposing screen persona. He scored an early triumph in Kurosawa'sRashomon (1950), playing a medieval outlaw, but he's also portrayed a number of contemporary characters including detectives and businessmen. Mifune had originally planned a film career behind the camera as a cinematographer, but wound up before the lens in 1946'sShin Baka Jidai he first worked with Kurosawa in 1948's Drunken Angel He made one attempt at directing in 1963,Goju Man-nin no Isan which was a failure; his production company now makes films for TV. Mifune's forceful personality, projected through baleful expressions and dynamic physical presence, won him international recognition and led to many roles in American productions, including Grand Prix (1966), Hell in the Pacific (1968, in a two-man tour de force opposite Lee Marvin), Kurosawa fan Steven Spielberg's1941 (1979), and the TV miniseries "Shogun" (1980). Less active during the past decade, Mifune recently appeared inShogun Mayeda (1990).

OTHER FILMS INCLUDE: 1952: The Life of Oharu 1962: High and Low 1965: Red Beard 1975: Paper Tiger 1976: Midway 1979: Winter Kills 1982: The Challenge 1993: Shadow of the Wolf

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Please visit this site for more:  http://www.sprout.org/toshiro/biography/index.html

Biography of
Akira Kurosawa
by Eileen Smyth


Akira Kurosawa: Emperor of Japanese Cinema

In 1951, Akira Kurosawa (1910 – 1998) single-handedly introduced the Occident to Japanese cinema, and throughout the West has remained the most famous director from the Land of the Rising Sun. Though some have argued that other filmmakers (such as Yasujiro Ozu) have made more authentically "Japanese" films, it is Kurosawa who will always be remembered as "The Emperor" of Japanese cinema.
Kurosawa was born the youngest of seven to a career army officer who could trace his ancestry to the Samurai and whose lineage instilled in Akira a distinctly patrician sensibility (as well as a stubborn perfectionism that would become infamous among his Japanese colleagues). During the silent era, an older brother had an interesting job giving dramatic readings of movie title cards to largely illiterate audiences. Unfortunately for him, sound rendered his position obsolete in the early 30s, but his work had impressed Akira, who would eventually seek employment himself in the heart of Japan's film industry.

Wanting at first to be a fine artist, Kurosawa studied painting – a passion which he always retained and which deeply informed his work as a director (he later made full-sized paintings to supplement the story-boards for important scenes in his films). After his studies, he made the realistic compromise of entering the commercial art market, but even so he found attaining a satisfactory standard of living more difficult than he had anticipated. It was in 1936 that he answered an ad placed by the Toho film studio.

In 1942, after working his way up through the writing department, he got his first chance to direct when he convinced Toho to let him adapt a contemporary novel. His debut film, Sanshiro Sugata (1943), is purely entertainment ("all we were allowed to make in those days"), but is notable for the novice director's manifest facility with balancing simplicity and elegance.

Kurosawa's next film of note, Drunken Angel (1948) shows early signs of the filmmaker's distinct affinity for humanist stories set in stark surroundings. It also begins to move away from "pure" entertainment with its almost ponderous mood and thus distinguishes itself from the usual Toho fare.

Next, he attempted Dostoevsky's The Idiot (1949), but the ambitious film seemed miscast to the Japanese and the project failed to make money.

The director bounced back with Rashomon (1950). Although coolly received by his fellow countrymen, Kurosawa's unforgettable exploration of the elastic nature of subjective truth took the West by storm (it won the 1951Golden Lion in Venice as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.) The reason for its triumph was twofold: the philosophical stance of the story appealed to Occidental sensibility; yet at the same time, the aesthetic approach seemed just exotic enough to evoke feudal Japan without going so far in that direction as to alienate Western audiences. It was this winning combination that would sustain "The Emperor's" reputation in the West throughout his career, even though his success was somewhat uneven over the years .
 

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