Takako Irie
Birthday: 1911-02-07
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan
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".
Movies
Sanjuro
Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Kurosawa's tightly paced, beautifull...
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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she sm...
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The Morning Sun Shines
The Morning Sun Shines is a fiction-documentary film by Kenji Mizoguchi and Seiichi Ina. The film is...
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The Most Beautiful
Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, endurin...
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Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown
While returning by boat to Japan, Yoshie Fujiwara meets a rich woman who suggests him to become a si...
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The Deserted City
After noticing in the news there was a fire in an old canal town, Eguchi recalls visiting there a de...
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The Water Magician
Taki no Shiraito is a very independent young woman with a famous water juggling act in a travelling ...
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Tojuro's Love
A colourful study of theatrical life. Two acting troupes vie for the Kyoto market during the Genroku...
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Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
Second in the Nage Utasamon series...
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A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, ...
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White Heron
OSHINO, the beautiful daughter of restaurant owners, is in love with SHIRASAGI the painter. But ther...
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Green Earth
Set in Qingdao, China, a Japanese company locates an office there and begins work and cooperation wi...
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Learn from Experience, Part One
Part 1 of a 2-part romance based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan. The central character here...
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Learn from Experience, Part Two
Part 2 of a 2-part romance (first part - Kafuku zempen) based on a story by noted author Kikuchi Kan...
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Life Is like a Somersault
After learning that he has accidentally killed a man in a fight, Unokichi must look after the man's ...
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Kagebōshi
On the night the shogunate's treasury was breached, the guard Utsugi had already been taken down. Hi...
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Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
A hospital melodrama where the conflict between love and friendship rules the faith of the protagoni...
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Ghost of Saga Mansion
A woman loses her son through an evil conspiracy and commits suicide. Shortly afterwards a ghost cat...
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Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
Okoyo, the mistress of Lord Arima, fears that she is being replaced by a younger woman named Otaki. ...
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Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
The Lord of Okazaki is killed by his brother-in-law. Although the Lord's widow bears a child, she is...
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The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations
A power struggle in the fief of Okazaki causes the death of Namiji, a nobleman's daughter. As her fi...
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The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
A kabuki actress is murdered. Her pet cat laps its mistress's blood and becomes a demon possessed by...
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Jean Valjean: Part One
The first part of a fascinating melodrama based on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, the action of which...
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The House of Hanging
This time, Kousuke investigates a murder in a hospital. The murderer leaves misleading evidence to d...
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Jean Valjean: Part Two
The second part of the melodrama based on the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, the action of whi...
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Sincerity
Two young girls, Nobiko and Tomiko, go to the same school. The less fortunate girl Nobiko is one of ...
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Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
The masked avenger Kurama Tengu is linked to a plot to bring down the Tokugawa shogunate, but is it ...
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Love Letter
A sad and troubled man finds a new job five years after the end of WWII, where he writes love letter...
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The Snake Princess
When Sentarô’s father is killed by a drunken samurai, Sentarô avenges him. His deed puts him on the ...
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Karayuki-san
"Karayuki-san offers a no-holds-barred depiction of the discrimination faced by a former prostitute ...
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A Woman's Sorrows
Young Hiroko’s (Takako Irie) conservative principles place her at odds with most modern women, as sh...
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Mother Never Dies
The premature death of a young mother serves as inspiration for her husband and son....
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Yukiko and Natsuyo
Adaptation of a novel by Nobuko Yoshiya that was serialized in "Shufu no tomo" between 1939 and 1940...
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Lord Mito
This most celebrated all-star movie version of the popular series features Tsukigata Ryunosuke as Mi...
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The Battle of Kawanakajima
This epic depicts the battle between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The focus of the story is th...
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Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with ...
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A Living Puppet
A man rises in society by cheating, but the institutions in turn take their revenge....
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Tokyo March
A classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in Taishō-era Japan, The nostalgic ...
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Four Marriages
Based on a short story by Dazai Osamu, produced under the national film law. The film's hero falls i...
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Metropolitan Symphony
A young woman seduced by a rich man, takes revenge on him with the help of a young idealistic worker...
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Dancers of Awa
Jurobei, a kaisen tonya (wholesaler in port) in Awa, was wronged and killed on the day of the Dance ...
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The Great White Tiger Platoon
The Great White Tiger Platoon was part of the Aizu clan's last ditch efforts to stop the advance of ...
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Legend of the Cat Monster
A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter i...
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Sky of Hope
What is marriage? Young couple in match-making wanted to know before they decide. They visited marr...
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A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, ...
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A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, ...
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