20 Facts About Takashi Shimura

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981.

Takashi Shimura appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films, including as a lead actor in Drunken Angel, Rashomon, Ikiru and Seven Samurai.

Takashi Shimura played Professor Kyohei Yamane in Ishiro Honda's original Godzilla and its first sequel, Godzilla Raids Again.

Takashi Shimura was born Shoji Shimazaki in Ikuno, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

Takashi Shimura entered Ikuno Primary School in 1911 and Kobe First Middle School in 1917.

Takashi Shimura missed two years of schooling because of a mild case of tuberculosis, and subsequently moved to the prefectural middle school in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, where his father had been transferred by his employer, Mitsubishi Mining.

Takashi Shimura joined the University's Theatre Studies Society and in 1928 formed an amateur theatrical group, the Shichigatsu-za with Toyo-oka as director.

Takashi Shimura began to miss work because of the time he spent on theatrical activities and eventually lost his job.

Takashi Shimura then left university to try to earn a living in the theatre.

Takashi Shimura toured China and Japan with the Kindaiza, but in 1932 he left the company and returned again to Osaka, where he appeared with the Shinseigeki and Shinsenza troupes.

Takashi Shimura made his film debut in the 1934 silent Ren'ai-gai itchome.

Takashi Shimura demonstrated his considerable ability as a singer in the 1939 "cine-operetta", Singing Lovebirds.

Takashi Shimura was eventually released on the recognisance of his wife Masako and fellow-actor Ryunosuke Tsukigata.

Takashi Shimura is said to have made use of this experience later when playing a Tokko official in Akira Kurosawa's 1946 No Regrets for Our Youth.

When Nikkatsu and Daiei merged in 1942, Takashi Shimura moved to the Koa Eiga studios and then in 1943 to Toho.

In 1943, Takashi Shimura appeared as the old jujutsu teacher Murai Hansuke, a character based on the historical Hansuke Nakamura, in Kurosawa's debut movie, Sanshiro Sugata.

Takashi Shimura appeared in a number of Toho kaiju and tokusatsu films, many of which were directed by Kurosawa's good friend and colleague Ishiro Honda.

Takashi Shimura's roles included Professor Kyohei Yamane in the original Godzilla, a character he briefly reprised in Godzilla Raids Again.

Takashi Shimura died on February 11,1982, in Tokyo, Japan, from emphysema at the age of 76.

Takashi Shimura's effects were presented to the Film Centre of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.