Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1911-02-07
Day of Death
1995-01-12
Place of Birth
Tokyo, Japan
Takako Irie
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 (76)
The Deserted City
1984
Legend of the Cat Monster
1983
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
1983
The House of Hanging
1979
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
1975
Sanjuro
1962
Lord Mito
1957
Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp
1957
Fighting Letter for 29 People
1957Notebooks of Heiji Zenigata: Spider on the Skin
1956
The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations
1956
Matashirō Fighting Journey
1956
The Roar of The Lion
1955
