Takako Irie

Takako Irie

1911-02-07

Biography

Takako Irie (入江 たか子 Irie Takako, 7 February 1911 – 12 January 1995) was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family (her birth name was Hideko Higashibōjō (東坊城 英子 Higashibōjō Hideko)), she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932. One of Kenji Mizoguchi's silent film masterpieces, The Water Magician, was produced at that company with Irie starring. She appeared in many advertisements, as well as on fans and other commercial goods. Irie was also the subject of a folding screen painting by Nihonga artist Nakamura Daizaburō, which appeared in the 1930 Teiten (Imperial Exhibition), and which is today in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art; toy dolls were also produced based on this image. In the postwar period, Irie became known as a "ghost cat actress" (bakeneko joyū) for appearing in a series of kaidan (ghost story) movies. One of her late memorable roles was in Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro, where she plays Mutsuta's wife, the lady who warns Sanjuro (Toshirō Mifune) that "the best sword stays in its scabbard".

Also appears in

Sanjuro

Sanjuro

7.9

The Most Beautiful

The Most Beautiful

5.6

The Water Magician

The Water Magician

6.9

Love Letter

Love Letter

6.8

The Little Girl Who Conquered Time

The Little Girl Who Conquered Time

6.4

Sincerity

Sincerity

5.4

The Deserted City

The Deserted City

6.8

A Woman’s Sorrows

A Woman’s Sorrows

6.7

壮士劇場

壮士劇場

Not yet rated

Karisome no kuchibeni

Karisome no kuchibeni

Not yet rated

続影法師

続影法師

Not yet rated

The House of Hanging

The House of Hanging

6.0

Behold This Mother

Behold This Mother

Not yet rated

Learn from Experience, Part Two

Learn from Experience, Part Two

6.2

Tokyo March

Tokyo March

6.0

Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki

Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki

8.0

Judge of the Ashuras

Judge of the Ashuras

Not yet rated

Learn from Experience, Part One

Learn from Experience, Part One

6.0

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director

6.8

Jean Valjean: Part Two

Jean Valjean: Part Two

Not yet rated