Takashi Shimura

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Takashi Shimura
Takashi Shimura as Watanabe in Ikiru (1952).
Born	志村喬 (Shimura Takashi} March 12, 1905(1905-03-12) Asago, Hyōgo, Japan
Died	February 11, 1982 (aged 76) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Actor

Takashi Shimura (志村 喬, Shimura Takashi^?, March 12, 1905–February 11, 1982) was one of Japan's greatest actors of the 20th century.

Born in Ikuno, Japan, one of his earliest film roles was in Kenji Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy (1936).

After Toshiro Mifune, Shimura was probably the next most closely associated actor with Akira Kurosawa. Shimura appeared in many of Kurosawa's films. His roles include Kambei, the lead samurai in Seven Samurai, the woodcutter in Rashomon, the mortally ill bureaucrat in Ikiru, the flawed lawyer in Scandal, the veteran detective in Stray Dog, and the doctor in Drunken Angel.

In fact, Kurosawa's cinematic collaboration with Shimura, from 1943 to 1980, started earlier, lasted longer and was more prolific than his work (1948-65) with Mifune. Shimura appeared in the director's debut film, Sanshiro Sugata (1943), and the last film of Kurosawa's in which he acted was Kagemusha (1980), for which Kurosawa specifically wrote a part for Shimura. However, the scene was cut from the western release, and so many did not know that he had been part of the film. The release of the movie by The Criterion Collection restored Shimura's footage.

Outside of his career working with Kurosawa, Shimura is probably best known for his roles in several Japanese monster movies, including the scientist Kyohei Yamane in the first two Godzilla films (and the first to reprise the role before Raymond Burr in the English form of Godzilla and Megumi Odaka in the Heisei Godzilla films).

Shimura died on February 11, 1982 from emphysema at the age of 76.

Filmography

(incomplete)

• Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
• The Most Beautiful (1944)
• The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail (1945)
• No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
• Snow Trail (1947)
• Drunken Angel (1948)
• The Quiet Duel (1949)
• Stray Dog - as detective Sato. He won award for Best Actor at the 1950 Mainichi Film Concours. (1949)
• (ペン偽らず　暴力の街 Boryoku no Machi) (1950)
• Scandal (1950)
• Rashomon (1950)
• Elegy (1951)
• The Idiot
• Ikiru (1952)
• The Skin of the South (南国の肌 Nangoku no hada) (1952)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Godzilla (1954)
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
• I Live in Fear (1955)
• Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
• The Mysterians (1957)
• Throne of Blood (1957)
• 続青い山脈　雪子の巻 Zoku Aoi sanmyaku Shinko no maki (1957)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)
• The Loyal 47 Ronin (忠臣蔵 Chūshingura) (1958)
• Storm Over the Pacific (1960)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• Mothra (1961)
• Sanjuro (1962)
• Chushingura: 47 Samurai (1962)
• High and Low (1963)
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
• Kwaidan (1964)
• Samurai Assassin (1965)
• Red Beard (1965)
• Zatoichi and the Fugitives (1968)
• Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973)
• Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)
• Love and Faith (1978)
• Kagemusha (1980)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Takashi Shimura

• Takashi Shimura at the Internet Movie Database
• Takashi Shimura (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database
• Takashi Shimura at Eigapedia

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