Takako Irie
Acting · Born 1911-02-07 · age 83 at death · Tokyo, Japan
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".
Titles
Sanjuro
The Most Beautiful
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Love Letter
Tokyo March
The Water Magician
The Morning Sun Shines
The Deserted City
The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
A Woman's Sorrows
Learn from Experience, Part One
Learn from Experience, Part Two
Sincerity
Mother Never Dies
Lord Mito
The House of Hanging
Wings of Victory
Ghost of Saga Mansion
Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown
Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations
Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp
The Great White Tiger Platoon
Judge of the Ashuras
The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia
Tojuro's Love
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
White Heron
Life Is like a Somersault
Enoken’s Shrewd Period
Karisome no kuchibeni
Jean Valjean: Part One
Blue Sky Angel
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
The Snake Princess
Yukiko and Natsuyo
Behold This Mother
Omokage no machi
The Battle of Kawanakajima
Great Bodhisattva Pass
A Living Puppet
Four Marriages
Metropolitan Symphony
Dancers of Awa
Legend of the Cat Monster
Invitation to Happiness
Sky of Hope
Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
Green Earth
Kagebōshi
Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
Odoroki ikka
Jean Valjean: Part Two
Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
Political Theater
Karayuki-san
Tsuki yori no shisha
Mother's Melody