Thursday, February 11, 2010

Takashi Shimura


Today is the anniversary of the death in 1982 of Japanese actor Takashi Shimura, who appeared in numerous Akira Kurosawa films across the decades. We have grown into an appreciation of him as we've seen him in some of his varied roles. There's more information on this actor at FilmReference.com. He has a Facebook fan page. The Auteurs has a section devoted to him.

These are the films I've seen:

Drunken Angel (1948)
Nora Inu (1949)
Ikiru (1952)
Gojira (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Throne of Blood (1957)
The Hidden Fortress (1948)
Yojimbo (1961)
Kagemusha (1980)

The photo at the top of the post is of him in his role in Ikiru and is in the public domain.

2 comments:

  1. I applaud anyone who recognizes Toho foreign films, but 1982 is quite a while ago...

    Speaking of which, I have definately formulated an intent to own Seven Samurai. I think it would be an admirable part of my DVD collection. Or do you have a stronger recommendation among the Toho films?

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  2. You can't go wrong with Seven Samurai. For years we had heard it was the inspiration for Magnificent Seven, which we like, and we got a kick out of seeing it.

    1982 doesn't seem like all that long ago to me. Time can fly.

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