Takashi Shimura

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Takashi Shimura
Takashi Shimura as Watanabe in Ikiru (1952).
Born	志村 喬 March 12, 1905(1905-03-12) Ikuno, Asago, Hyōgo, Japan
Died	February 11, 1982 (aged 76) Tokyo, Japan
Other name(s)	島崎 捷爾 [1] (Shoji Shimazaki)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1936 - 1981

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

Biography

He was born in Ikuno, Asago, Hyōgo, Japan.^[2]

His debut as actor was the film Akanishi Kakita (赤西蠣太; Capricious Young Man, 1936) and cast in the Kenji Mizoguchi's film Osaka Elegy (浪華悲歌, 1936).

In company with Toshirō Mifune, Shimura is the actor who is most closely associated with Akira Kurosawa. Shimura appeared in many of Kurosawa's films. His roles include the doctor in Drunken Angel (1948), the veteran detective in Stray Dog (1949), the flawed lawyer in Scandal (1950), the woodcutter in Rashomon (1950), the mortally ill bureaucrat in Ikiru (1952), the lead samurai Kambei in Seven Samurai (1954).

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 in Tokyo, Japan, 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)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Takashi Shimura

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

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