Toshiro Mifune

Toshiro Mifune (三船 敏郎 Mifune Toshirō) (April 1, 1920 - December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films.

Popularity

His imposing bearing, acting range, facility with foreign languages and lengthy partnership with acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa made him the most famous Japanese actor of his time, and easily the best known to Western audiences. He often portrayed a samurai or ronin, who was usually coarse and gruff (Kurosawa once complained about Mifune's "rough" voice), inverting the popular stereotype of the genteel, clean-cut samurai. In such films as The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, he played characters who were often comically lacking in manners, but replete with practical wisdom and experience, understated nobility, and unmatched fighting prowess. Sanjuro in particular contrasts this earthy warrior spirit with the useless, sheltered propriety of the court samurai. Kurosawa highly valued Mifune for his effortless portrayal of unvarnished emotion, once commenting that he could convey in only three feet of film an emotion that would require the average Japanese actor ten feet.

Related Topics:
Akira Kurosawa - Samurai - Ronin - The Seven Samurai - Yojimbo - Sanjuro

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Mifune was famous for his self-deprecating sense of humor, which often found its way into his film roles. He was renowned for the effort he put into his performances. To prepare for The Seven Samurai and Rashomon, Mifune reportedly studied tapes of lions in the wild; for Ánimas Trujano, he studied tapes of Mexican actors speaking, so he could recite all his lines in Spanish. In his earliest film roles in English like Grand Prix, made in 1966, he learned his lines phonetically. This met with limited success and his voice was often dubbed by Paul Frees. By the time he made Red Sun in 1971 he had become somewhat more proficent in the language and his voice is heard throughout this multinational western. He was always disappointed that he did not have a larger career in the West. His most prominent English-language role was probably playing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in Midway.

Related Topics:
Humor - Rashomon - Lion - Ánimas Trujano - Mexican - Spanish - English - Grand Prix - 1966 - Paul Frees - Red Sun - 1971 - Isoroku Yamamoto - Midway

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Early in the development of ', director George Lucas reportedly considered Mifune for the role of Obi Wan Kenobi. He had played an analogous role (General Rokurota) in The Hidden Fortress, a film greatly admired by Lucas. Its plot and characters have some parallels that Lucas carried into his first Star Wars film.

Related Topics:
George Lucas - Obi Wan Kenobi - The Hidden Fortress

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Mifune has been credited as originating the "roving warrior" archetype, which he perfected during his collaboration with Kurosawa. Clint Eastwood was among the first of many American actors to adopt this persona, which he used to great effect in his Western roles, especially the spaghetti westerns made with Sergio Leone. Incidentally, A Fistful of Dollars is an uncredited scene-for-scene remake of the Kurosawa–Mifune movie Yojimbo. Kurosawa successfully sued Leone for appropriating the story without permission.

Related Topics:
Archetype - Clint Eastwood - American - Western - Spaghetti western - Sergio Leone - A Fistful of Dollars - Remake

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Most of the sixteen Kurosawa–Mifune films are considered cinema classics. These include Rashomon, Stray Dog, The Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood (an adaptation of Shakespeare's MacBeth), Yojimbo, and Sanjuro. (See filmography, below)

Related Topics:
Stray Dog - Throne of Blood - Shakespeare's - MacBeth

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Mifune and Kurosawa finally parted ways after the movie Red Beard. Most Japanese actors of the time played roles in several different movies throughout the year; for Red Beard, since he had to keep the natural beard that he grew, for the entire two years of shooting, Mifune was unable to act in any other films during this time. This put Mifune and his financially strapped production company deeply into debt. Red Beard played to packed houses in Japan and was popular in Europe, but failed to find commercial success in America.

Related Topics:
Red Beard - Europe

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