Toshiro Mifune

Toshirō Mifune (三船 敏郎, Mifune Toshirō^?) (Seitō, April 1, 1920-Mitaka, Tokyo, December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor, one of the most prominent in his country. With a career of 152 films, he achieved international fame for his performances in Hiroshi Inagaki's films, in which he played the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, and in several of the best-known works by Akira Kurosawa such as Rashōmon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954).

In addition, he made foreign films, standing out mainly for his participation in Mexico with the film Ánimas Trujano (1961), which was the second Mexican film to be nominated for the Oscars and the Globo Awards. Gold in 1962.

Biography and career

Childhood and beginnings

Mifune in 1939.

Toshirō Mifune was born to Japanese Methodist parents in Tsingtao (Mandarin Chinese transliteration also spelled "Qingdao"), in Seitō. Due to his birth in China, his parents also gave him a Mandarin Chinese name (Sanchuan Minlang), in addition to his Japanese birth name (Toshirō Mifune). His father, Tokuzo Mifune, a businessman who had emigrated to China, introduced him to photography. After finishing school, he attended High School at Port Arthur High School and was admitted to the Imperial Japanese Army, and served in the military during World War II. While in the Army, he was noted for his knowledge of photography, and was assigned to aerial reconnaissance work.

After the war, Mifune worked for Tōhō Films as a camera assistant. Unbeknownst to him, a friend sent a photograph of himself to a casting call for film actors in which he was selected. Despite not having undertaken the candidacy, he agreed to become an actor. His apprenticeship took place at an informal drama school founded by the company in the wake of an actors' strike. In 1947, he participated in a test for new actors but was not admitted. However, director Kajiro Yamamoto noticed him and recommended him to director Senkichi Taniguchi, who hired him for what would be his debut as an actor: the comedy Shin Baka Jidai (1947).

It was Kurosawa

In 1948, Mifune met Akira Kurosawa, with whom he established a solid friendship of mutual collaboration that gave him a launch pad to success. Mifune was the Japanese filmmaker's favorite actor: throughout his long career, he has starred in 16 of his films, most of which have become classics of Japanese cinema. His performances, with a strong acting presence, embodied stiff, tough, and crude-mannered characters such as roaming samurai and ronin, whom he often tinged with delicate, mischievous touches of humor.

Movie poster The seven samurai (1954).

His role in The Seven Samurai (1954), considered one of the most influential films in classic cinema, gave him international recognition. Another influential film of this stage was Rashomon (1950), where he played a mugger involved in a murder.

"Mifune possessed a kind of talent that he had not previously found in the world of Japanese cinema. It consisted, above all, of the speed with which it expressed itself; it was surprising. The average Japanese actor would have needed ten feet of film to show an impression, a feeling; Mifune only needed three. The speed of his movements was such that in one action he expressed what he took to ordinary actors three movements to express. He projected everything forward in a direct and highly determined way, possessed the sharpest sense of timing I've never seen a Japanese actor before. And besides his speed, he possessed a surprisingly fine sensitivity."

Akira Kurosawa on Toshiro Mifune (2012) [1]

In the early 1960s, Mifune and Kurosawa were hit by economic, financial, and personal crises and drifted apart, avoiding each other for three decades. The well-known demands of the director in his constant search for perfection regarding the shooting generated a great deal of stress for Mifune, which was reflected in anecdotes in which the actor criticized Kurosawa's behavior. Their last film together was Akahige (Barbarossa, 1965). Despite everything, Kurosawa considered Mifune all his life the greatest actor he had ever worked with. Hisao Kurosawa, the director's son, repeatedly stated that his estrangement was not due to disputes between them.

"His relationship was not that of a director with an actor, but that of two twin souls. They were like a car and his engine. "

Hisao Kurosawa (2015) [2]

Interpretive Westernization

In 1963, Mifune founded his own production company, Mifune Geijutsu Gakuin Productions (三船芸术学), with which he promoted Japanese cinema, heavily influenced by Kurosawa.

He was the best-known Japanese actor in the world, twice awarded the Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival, in 1961 for Yojimbo and in 1965 for Barbarossa. He took part in several films and productions for American television.

In the 1968 film Hell in the Pacific, Mifune became best known playing a Japanese castaway who harasses a castaway American (Lee Marvin) on a remote island during the War Front. Pacific during the Second World War.

Another of his memorable appearances was in the 1980 miniseries Shogun: Lord of the Samurai, alongside Richard Chamberlain and Yôko Shimada; the portrayal of him as Shogun Toranaga-San was very solid. His prolific filmography includes more than 160 titles, including films and different productions for television. Mifune retired in 1992, for health reasons, and confined herself to his home.

Souls Trujano

From left to right: Antonio Aguilar, Toshirō Mifune and Flor Silvestre Trujano (1961).

Mexican film director Ismael Rodríguez, who had already been known for directing films such as Nosotros los pobres in 1948 and Tizoc: Amor indio in 1957, was the in charge of directing the film Ánimas Trujano (1961), based on the play Mayordomía by Rogelio Barriga Rivas. At the time the film was made, Pedro Infante, who He was considered to play the main role in the film, he had already passed away, so Ismael decided to call and invite Toshirō Mifune to play the main character despite his Japanese origin. He made his arrival in Mexico at the end of April 1961 and stood out for arriving in the country wearing the traditional Japanese clothing for special events, a montsuki haori hakama. According to what was published by the Mexican newspaper "El Universal", on May 15, 1961, Ismael managed to convince Mifune to star in the film, as he wanted an international actor to guarantee the sale of l filmed in other countries, stating the following:

"My purpose of having hired a foreign actor to incarnate the character of "Animas Trujano" is to open the international market to benefit our phyllical industry. »

The director also thought that in Mexico and Japan the film would be called "Ánimas Trujano" and in other countries "El hombre importante". Recordings began on May 8, 1961 in Oaxaca. Mifune had to learn from I remember all his dialogues in Spanish, since he was not a speaker of the language; his facial expressions helped a lot to complement the character, but since his Spanish pronunciation was not good enough for filming, the director decided to have his voice dubbed by actor Narciso Busquets so that a better job would be done. In the film, Mifune played "Ánimas Trujano", an alcoholic and ambitious indigenous man of Oaxacan origin, who sets out to do everything possible to become a butler for his people. The film was a success and became the second film Mexican to be nominated for the Oscars in 1962. In addition, it was also nominated for "best foreign film" at the Golden Globe Awards of that same year, for the photography work carried out by the photographer Gabriel Figueroa and won the main prize of the San Francisco Festival.

For his participation in the film, he received ten thousand dollars, a small amount of money that he was accustomed to and for which he rejected job offers in the United States, where they gave him the freedom to choose the amount of money he chose. Mifune stated in his own words why he chose to act in Mexico as follows:

“It is simple and simple because, first of all, Mr. Ismael Rodríguez convinced me, secondly, because I wanted to work in the beautiful Mexico of great tradition and, thirdly, because the story and character of “Animas Trujano” seemed very human to me. »

He also declared that if Pedro Infante had been alive at that time, he would have been the one to play the main role, but since he had already passed away, he would proudly make the film in his honor. During his stay in the country, he took the opportunity to visit the then president of Mexico, Adolfo López Mateos, to whom he gave an inlaid Japanese pistol. His partner in the film the actress, Flor Silvestre, stated the following about her experience working with Mifune:

“Mr. Mifune is a gentleman... When he first came to the set he gave us, to all who took part in the film, gifts brought from Japan... he is an extraordinary artist, very gentleman, very professional and who knows how to be a friend. »

Mifune also developed a friendship with Columba Domínguez, with whom he also worked on the film. In November 1961, the newspaper "El Universal" published a fragment of a letter that the actor sent to Columba, in which He declared everything that the experience of working in Mexico left him, it said the following:

I lived with you new sensations that life offers in the spiritual and material. I was pleased to meet you Mexicans, in your own land, a land that has given you what the Mexican people are worth and to which I respect and I want as my own Japan. »

Personal life

In 1950, he met and married Sachiko Yoshimine. The marriage was strongly resisted by the bride's family due to the economic precariousness that stigmatized Japanese actors at the time, it could only come true with the intervention of the director Senkichi Taniguchi, who mediated with the young woman's parents. From this union two children were born: Shiro (1950) and Takeshi (1952).

His wife Sachiko passed away in 1995 at the age of 67. In 1982 he had a third daughter named Mika born to the actress and lover, Mika Kitagawa.

Death

Toshirō Mifune (in the middle). It is located in the Shunjuen Cemetery in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan.

On December 24, 1997, Mifune passed away at the age of 77 in a hospital in Mitaka, Tokyo. A relative of his stated that he had been ill for some time, but did not specify the cause of death. it was revealed that the actor passed away from pancreatic cancer and multiple organ failure. His body was buried at the Shunjuen Cemetery located in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan.

Filmography

Toshirō Mifune en The seven samurai (1954).

Toshirō Mifune en Inferno in the Pacific (1968).

Awards and distinctions

Venice International Film Festival

Mifune received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon and the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese Government in 1986 and 1993 respectively. She was a member of the jury of the 8th and 10th Moscow International Film Festival.