• Name: Takashi Shimura
• Date of Birth: March 12, 1905
• Place of Birth: Ikuno, Hyogo, Japan

• Add to My Favorites
• Post a Comment

Biography: Japanese character actor, one of the finest film actors of the Twentieth Century and a leading member of the "stock company" of master director Akira Kurosawa. A native of southern Japan, Shimura was ...( read more )a descendant of the warrior samurai class. Following university training, he founded a theatre company, Shichigatsu-za ("July Theatre"). In 1930, he joined a professional company, Kindai-za ("Modern Theatre). Four years later he signed with the Kinema Shinko film studio. He found a niche playing samurai roles for various studios, then signed a long-term contract with Toho Studios in 1943. He appeared in an average of more than six films a year for Toho over the next four decades. His greatest critical acclaim came in more than twenty roles for director Kurosawa, though he is almost as well recognized outside Japan for his kindly doctor role in the original 'Godzilla' ('Gojira (1954)'). Shimura's finest triumph was his unforgettable performance as a dying bureacrat in Kurosawa's 'Ikiru (1952)'. He continued to act steadily in good films and bad, almost until his death, culminating with Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha (1980)'. He is often described as filling the spot for Kurosawa that Ward Bond filled for 'John Ford (I)', that of an ever-present and reliable character player who consistently supplied a solidity and strength to whatever film he appeared in. Shimura was, to be sure, even a finer actor than Bond, and his range was enormous, from Ikiru's diffident clerk to the leader of the Seven Samurai in Kurosawa's 'Shichinin no samurai (1954)'. He died in 1982, a reluctant icon of Japanese cinema.

• 
  erichaunting
  ONLINE NOW 
• 
  BigMacAttack
  ONLINE NOW 
• 
  Jungian
  ONLINE NOW 
• 
  kenstachnik
   
• 
  Jriff87
   
• 
  williamhunt2
   
• 
  juanchi119
  ONLINE NOW 
• 
  areob
  ONLINE NOW 

• 
  PiotrBuendia

  for me always will be Kanji Watanabe

  posted 136 days ago
• 
  ForlornFlame

  What a great, though underrated actor. It's a shame he won't be properly recognized by moviegoers nowadays. He will always be Kambei from Seven Samurai to me.

  posted 349 days ago

• 
  Tobey Maguire
• 
  Ben Barnes
• 
  Brenda Song
• 
  Mitchel Musso
• 
  Johnny Knoxville
• 
  Charlize Theron

• Otoko wa tsurai yo (Am I Trying) (It's Tough Being a Man) (Tora-san Our Lovable Tramp) (Unrated, 1974)
• Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon (Frankenstein Conquers the World) (Unrated, 1965)
• Yosei Gorasu (Gorath) (Astronaut 1980) (Unrated, 1962)
• Karakkaze Yarô (Afraid to Die) (Unrated, 1960)
• The Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru (The Bad Sleep Well) (Unrated, 1960)
• The Hidden Fortress (Unrated, 1958)
• Throne of Blood (Unrated, 1957)
• Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (Unrated, 1956)
• Gojira (Unrated, 1956)
• I Live in Fear (Ikimono no kiroku) (Unrated, 1955)

No headlines. Got one?

• 

  click to preview
  Ikiru

  by CollapseTheLight

  32 profiles

  Use on my profile!
• 

  

  

  click to preview
  Default Skin

  View with default skin

No quizzes for Takashi Shimura. Want to create one?

• 

  Ikiru Trailer