Takako Irie
Acting
Born February 7, 1911 · 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".
Films (73)
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
1957
Notebooks 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
The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
1954
The Great White Tiger Platoon
1954
Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
1954
Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
1954
Maiko monogatari
1954
妻恋黒田節
1954
Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
1953
Love Letter
1953
Ghost of Saga Mansion
1953
Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
1951
Tales of a Drifter
1951
Judge of the Ashuras
1951
Blue Sky Angel
1950
Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
1950
Kagebōshi
1950
Odoroki ikka
1949
Invitation to Happiness
1947
壮士劇場
1947
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
1947
Life Is like a Somersault
1946
Four Marriages
1944
The Most Beautiful
1944
Omokage no machi
1942
Wings of Victory
1942
Mother Never Dies
1942
Green Earth
1942
Sky of Hope
1942
The Battle of Kawanakajima
1941
White Heron
1941
Yukiko and Natsuyo
1941
Dancers of Awa
1941
The Snake Princess
1940
Sincerity
1939
Enoken’s Shrewd Period
1939
Tojuro's Love
1938
Learn from Experience, Part Two
1937
Learn from Experience, Part One
1937
A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
1937
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
1937
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
1937
Karayuki-san
1937
Mother's Melody
1937
A Woman's Sorrows
1937
Kuriyama Daizen
1936
Great Bodhisattva Pass 2
1936
Great Bodhisattva Pass
1935
Karisome no kuchibeni
1934
Tsuki yori no shisha
1934
The Water Magician
1933
The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia
1932
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
1931
Jean Valjean: Part Two
1931
Jean Valjean: Part One
1931
Behold This Mother
1930
Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown
1930
Matenro sôtohen
1929
Tokyo March
1929
A Living Puppet
1929
The Morning Sun Shines
1929
Metropolitan Symphony
1929