Akira Kurosawa
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- March 23, 1910
- Died
- September 6, 1998 (aged 88)
- Birthplace
- Shinagawa, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Biography
Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (1943). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast the then little-known actor Toshiro Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another fifteen films. Rashomon (1950), which premiered in Tokyo, became the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The commercial and critical success of that film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, including a number of highly regarded (and often adapted) films, such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and High and Low (1963). After the 1960s he became much less prolific; even so, his later work—including two of his final films, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to receive great acclaim. In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Posthumously, he was named Asian of the Century in the Arts, Literature, and Culture category by AsianWeek magazine and CNN, cited there as being among the five people who most prominently contributed to the improvement of Asia in the 20th century. His career has been honored by many retrospectives, critical studies and biographies in both print and video, and by releases in many consumer media.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Madadayo
Movie · Director
Rhapsody in August
Movie · Director
Dreams
Movie · Director
Ran
Movie · Director
Kagemusha
Movie · Director
Dersu Uzala
Movie · Director
Dodes'ka-den
Movie · Director
Song of the Horse
Movie · Director
Red Beard
Movie · Director
High and Low
Movie · Director
Sanjuro
Movie · Director
Yojimbo
Movie · Director
The Bad Sleep Well
Movie · Director
The Hidden Fortress
Movie · Director
Throne of Blood
Movie · Director
The Lower Depths
Movie · Director
I Live in Fear
Movie · Director
Seven Samurai
Movie · Director
Ikiru
Movie · Director
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Movie · Director
The Idiot
Movie · Director
Rashomon
Movie · Director
Scandal
Movie · Director
Stray Dog
Movie · Director
The Quiet Duel
Movie · Director
Drunken Angel
Movie · Director
One Wonderful Sunday
Movie · Director
No Regrets for Our Youth
Movie · Director
Those Who Make Tomorrow
Movie · Director
Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two
Movie · Director
The Most Beautiful
Movie · Director
Sanshiro Sugata
Movie · Director
Horse
Movie · Assistant Director
Roppa's Honeymoon
Movie · Assistant Director
Enoken's Cropped Hair
Movie · Assistant Director
The Monkey King
Movie · Assistant Director
Enoken’s Shrewd Period
Movie · Assistant Director
Easy Alley
Movie · Assistant Director
Composition Class
Movie · Assistant Director
Tojuro's Love
Movie · Assistant Director
Enoken's Surprising Life
Movie · Assistant Director
Subterranean Heat
Movie · Assistant Director
Japanese Women's Textbook
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part Two: Forward at Dawn
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part One: Tiger and Wolf
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Avalanche
Movie · Assistant Director
The Beautiful Hawk
Movie · Assistant Director
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 2 – Returning Is Scary, but the Weather Will Clear If You Wait
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Enoken's Chikiri Kinta Part 1 – Momma, the Hat: The Nice Way
Movie · Third Assistant Director
A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
Movie · Third Assistant Director
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Enoken’s Ten Millions
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Enoken’s Ten Millions Sequel
Movie · Third Assistant Director
Paradise of the Virgin Flowers
Movie · Assistant Director
Tokyo Rhapsody
Movie · Third Assistant Director