We all know who Akira Kurosawa is, of course. Takashi Shimura was one of Japan's most accomplished and prolific movie actors, appearing in over 200 films in a career spanning nearly 50 years. He had roles in 21 of the 30 films that Kurosawa directed--some of the most enduring classics movies ever made. (For reference, Kurosawa made 16 films with Toshiro Mifune, and Scorsese made 10 with De Niro.)
Shimura also appeared in many other classic Japanese films, including Kenji Mizoguchi's "Osaka Elegy" and "The Life of Oharu", "Samurai III", "Chushingura", "Kwaidan", and three of the best kaiju films: "Gojira", "Mothra", and "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster".
The 21 films Shimura made with Kurosawa are listed here. List image from "Ikiru", a movie so profound and heart-breaking, yet life-affirming, that I simply do not have words to do it justice.
