Akira Kurosawa’s favourite actor
If you’re looking for proof that some directors and actors are meant for one another, then look no further than Akira Kurosawa and his long-time leading man Toshiro Mifune. The pair worked together on no less than 16 films, many of which are regarded as masterpieces. So how did this world-winning partnership come to be?
Akira Kurosawa was still a young man when he spotted Mifune at an audition. This was shortly after the end of the Second World War, but the director had already made a name for himself in the Japanese film industry. Mifune, as was his style, was flailing around with such intensity that he made himself impossible to ignore. The memory of that highly physical performance remained lodged in Kurosawa’s mind for years afterwards. So when it came to casting the leading man in his new film, Drunken Angel, Mifune was the first to get the call. The actor’s ability to convey some deep-rooted melancholy made him the perfect fit for this atmospheric drama about an alcoholic doctor treating a gangster [Mifune] suffering from tuberculosis.
The pair’s third project together, Roshomon, was a sign of the success to come. Though released to modest reviews, it won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival and became an overnight sensation as a result. It won an Oscar for Outstanding Foreign Film in 1951 and helped introduce Japanese cinema to the rest of the world. Suddenly, Mifune was one of the Japanese film world’s most coveted and recognisable actors. Similarly, Kurosawa’s fame in the West soon eclipsed his notoriety in Japan, with many of his films being remade for the US market, Take The Magnificent Seven, for example, which saw the director’s 1954 film Seven Samurai transformed into a Western.
Over the next fifteen years or so, Kurosawa and Mifune’s partnership would continue to flourish. However, in 1965, shortly after the release of their final collaboration, Red Beard, simmering tensions began to bubble out of control. It seemed that Mifune wanted to step into the world of production, but Kurosawa was anxious that this would make their collaboration difficult to sustain. Their split resulted in nearly 30 years of animosity. During this time, Mifune continued to enjoy success, while Kurosawa’s creative output and cultural cache dwindled, leading to his suicide attempt in 1971.
Mifune and Kurosawa didn’t speak to one another again until 1993, when they both attended the funeral of Godzilla director Ishiro Honda. Perhaps understanding that this would be their last chance to reconcile their differences, the pair embraced tearfully. Mifune was already experiencing serious health problems, as was Kurosawa. They both died within a year of one another, putting an end to one of the greatest partnerships in cinematic history.
