Toshirō Mifune

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Toshirō Mifune, detail of the film poster for the Japanese film Scandal , 1950
Mifune's grave in Kawasaki

Toshirō Mifune ( Japanese 三 船 敏 郎 Mifune Toshirō ; born April 1, 1920 in Qingdao , Republic of China , † December 24, 1997 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese actor , film producer and director. He appeared in 134 films, received around 60 different awards and was also internationally known.

Life

Mifune grew up in the coastal city of Dalian in Japanese-occupied China. His father owned a photo shop, in which Mifune helped out as a child. In 1940 he was drafted into the army and served in the air force , where he took aerial photographs.

Actually looking for a job as a cameraman, he got a job in Tokyo in 1946 for the Tōhō film company . He played his first leading role, a bank robber, in Senkichi Taniguchi's Ginrei no Hate (1947). The role of the negative hero dominated among his early films, so he appeared as a gangster in Yoidore Tenshi (1948) and as a robber in Rashō-Mon (1950), also in the film The Hidden Fortress (1958) as a seedy General Makabe. Mifune also incorporated humorous elements into his dynamic play.

From 1948 to 1965 he impersonated the main roles in most of the films directed by Akira Kurosawa . With his portrayal of the outsider among the seven samurai in Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai (1954), Mifune achieved worldwide popularity. He appeared in Kurosawa's adaptations of Western literature as a thief in Donzoko (1957) and in the Macbeth role in Kumo-no-Su-Jō (1957) and in Tengoku to Jigoku (1963) - the film adaptation of a crime novel by Ed McBain .

For his work in the films Yōjimbō (1961) and Akahige (1965) he was awarded the Coppa Volpi as best leading actor at the Venice Film Festival and was then offered roles in international productions. He played a Japanese racing team owner in John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix in 1966, in 1968 in John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific , in the Franco-Italian production Soleil rouge (1971) and in 1976 as Admiral Yamamoto in Jack Smights Midway . His portrayal of Prince Toranaga in the US television series Shogun made him known to a wider audience in Germany. Mifune was the first Japanese film actor to establish himself as an international star.

In 1962 he founded his own production company "Mifune Productions", and in 1963 he made his directorial debut with Gojū-man-nin no Isan . In 1966 he set up his own studios in Tokyo, which he expanded to include a private drama school in 1981 . However, due to mismanagement, the school had to close three years later.

His son Shiro Mifune (* 1950) is also an actor and producer, his daughter Mika is also an actress.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Toshirō Mifune  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Mifune, Toshirō
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 三 船 敏 郎 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Qingdao , Republic of China
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1997
Place of death Tokyo