Takako Irie
Born: 1911-02-07 in Tokyo, Japan
Died: 1995-01-12
Known For: Acting
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".
Filmography
1984
- The Deserted City as Shino
1983
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as Tatsu Fukamachi
- Legend of the Cat Monster as Akiko Ryuzoji
1979
- The House of Hanging as Chizu Igarashi
1975
1962
- Sanjuro as Mutsuta's wife
1956
1955
1954
1953
- Love Letter
- Ghost of Saga Mansion as Otoyo-no-kata
- Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
1950
1949
1944
- The Most Beautiful as Noriko Mizushima, dorm mother
- Four Marriages
1942
1941
- The Battle of Kawanakajima as Chiyono - widow
- Yukiko and Natsuyo as Yukiko
- Dancers of Awa
- White Heron
1940
1939
- Sincerity as Tobiko Haseyama
- Enoken’s Shrewd Period
- Madam with a Ribbon
1937
1936
- Kuriyama Daizen
- Great Bodhisattva Pass 2 as Ohama
1934
- Karisome no kuchibeni as Akiko
- Tsuki yori no shisha as Michiko Nonoguchi, nurse
1933
- The Water Magician as Taki no Shiraito
1932
- The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia as Shiho Hime
1930
- Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown as Workwoman
- Behold This Mother
1929
- Tokyo March as 早百合
- Metropolitan Symphony as Reiko Yamada
- The Morning Sun Shines as girl in the elevator
- A Living Puppet as Hiroko Kumikawa
- Matenro sôtohen