Toshiro Mifune (April 1, 1920 – December 24, 1997) was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films.
He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo. He also portrayed Musashi Miyamoto in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai Trilogy, as well as Lord Toranaga in the NBC TV miniseries Shogun.
In his youth, Mifune worked in the photography shop of his father Tokuzo, a commercial photographer and importer. Mifune was famous for his self-deprecating sense of humor, which often found its way into his film roles. He was also renowned for the effort he put into his performances. Most of the sixteen Kurosawa–Mifune films are considered cinema classics. These include Drunken Angel, Stray Dog, Rashomon, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, High and Low, Throne of Blood (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth), Yojimbo, and Sanjuro.
In 1992, Mifune began suffering from a serious unknown health problem. It has been variously suggested that he destroyed his health with overwork, suffered a heart attack, or experienced a stroke. For whatever reason, he abruptly retreated from public life and remained largely confined to his home, cared for by his estranged wife Sachiko. When she succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 1995, Mifune’s physical and mental state began to decline rapidly. In 1997, he died in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, of multiple organ failure at the age of 77.
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