Takashi Shimura (Japanese:志村 喬,romanized: Shimura Takashi, bornShōji Shimazaki; March 12, 1905 – February 11, 1982) was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 ofAkira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor inDrunken Angel (1948),Rashomon (1950),Ikiru (1952) andSeven Samurai (1954).[3] He played Professor Kyohei Yamane inIshirō Honda's originalGodzilla (1954) and its first sequel,Godzilla Raids Again (1955).
Shimura was born Shōji Shimazaki (島崎 捷爾,Shimazaki Shōji) inIkuno,Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.[4] His forebears were members of thesamurai class: in 1868 his grandfather took part in theBattle of Toba–Fushimi during theBoshin War. Shimura entered Ikuno Primary School in 1911 andKobe First Middle School in 1917. He missed two years of schooling because of a mild case oftuberculosis, and subsequently moved to the prefectural middle school inNobeoka,Miyazaki Prefecture, where his father had been transferred by his employer, Mitsubishi Mining. At Nobeoka Middle School, he excelled in English and became active on the literary society's magazine, to which he contributed poetry. He also became a star of the rowing club.
In 1923, he enteredKansai University, but after his father's retirement the family could no longer afford the fees for a full-time course and he switched to the part-time evening course in English literature, supporting himself by working at theOsaka municipal waterworks. Among the teachers in the English Literature Department were the playwright Toyo-oka Sa-ichirō (豊岡佐一郎) and the Shakespeare scholar Tsubouchi Shikō (坪内士行). These two inspired in Shimura an enthusiasm for drama. He joined the University's Theatre Studies Society and in 1928 formed an amateur theatrical group, the Shichigatsu-za (七月座) with Toyo-oka as director. He began to miss work because of the time he spent on theatrical activities and eventually lost his job. He then left university to try to earn a living in the theatre. The Shichigatsu-za turned professional and began to tour, but got into financial difficulties and folded.[5]
After the failure of the Shichigatsu-za, Shimura went back to Osaka, where he began to get roles in radio plays. In 1930 he joined the Kindaiza (近代座) theatre company and became a fully professional actor. He 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 (新声劇) and Shinsenza (新選座) troupes. Talking pictures were just then coming in and Shimura realised they would provide opportunities for stage-trained actors. In 1932 he joined theKyoto studios of the film production companyShinkō Kinema. He made his film debut in the 1934 silentRen'ai-gai itchōme (恋愛街一丁目:Number One, Love Street). The first film in which he had a speaking part was the 1935Chūji uridasu (忠次売出す), directed byMansaku Itami. His first substantial film role was as a detective inMizoguchi Kenji's 1936Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejii; 浪華悲歌).[5]
Shimura as a terminally ill bureaucrat in Kurosawa'sIkiru
The film which established his reputation as a first-rate actor was Itami Mansaku's 1936Akanishi Kakita (赤西蠣太:Capricious Young Man). In 1937 he moved toNikkatsu film corporation's Kyoto studios, and between then and 1942 appeared in nearly 100 films. His most notable role in these years was that of Keishirō in the long-running seriesUmon Torimono-chō (右門捕物帖), starringKanjūrō Arashi. He also demonstrated his considerable ability as a singer in the 1939 "cine-operetta",Singing Lovebirds. During this time the political regime in Japan was growing ever more oppressive, and Shimura was arrested by the Special Higher Police (Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu, known as Tokkō) and held for about three weeks because of his earlier association with left-wing theatre groups. He was eventually released on the recognisance of his wife Masako and fellow-actorRyūnosuke Tsukigata. He is said to have made use of this experience later when playing a Tokkō official inAkira Kurosawa's 1946No Regrets for Our Youth. When Nikkatsu andDaiei merged in 1942, Shimura moved to the Kōa Eiga studios and then in 1943 toTōhō.[5] A few weeks before the end of thePacific War in August 1945, Shimura's elder brother was killed in Southeast Asia.
In 1943, Shimura appeared as the oldjujutsu teacher Murai Hansuke, a character based on the historicalHansuke Nakamura, in Kurosawa's debut movie,Sanshiro Sugata.[5] Along withToshirō Mifune, Shimura is the actor most closely associated with Kurosawa: he eventually appeared in 21 of Kurosawa's 30 films. In fact, Kurosawa's cinematic collaboration with Shimura, fromSanshiro Sugata in 1943 toKagemusha in 1980, started earlier and lasted longer than his work with Mifune (1948–65). Shimura's performances for Kurosawa included the doctor inDrunken Angel (1948), the veteran detective inStray Dog (1949), the flawed lawyer inScandal (1950), the woodcutter inRashomon (1950), the mortally ill bureaucrat inIkiru (1952), and the lead samurai Kambei inSeven Samurai (1954). Kurosawa wrote the part inKagemusha specifically for Shimura, but the scenes were cut from the Western release, so many in the West did not know that he had been in the film. The DVD release of the film byThe Criterion Collection restored Shimura's footage.
Shimura appeared in a number of Tōhōkaiju (giant monster) andtokusatsu (special effects) films, many of which were directed by Kurosawa's good friend and colleagueIshirō Honda. Shimura's roles included Professor Kyohei Yamane in the originalGodzilla (1954), a character he briefly reprised inGodzilla Raids Again (1955).
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