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".
Filmography
- 1984The Deserted City — Shino
- 1983Legend of the Cat Monster — Akiko Ryuzoji
- 1983The Girl Who Leapt Through Time — Tatsu Fukamachi
- 1979The House of Hanging — Chizu Igarashi
- 1962Sanjuro — Mutsuta's wife
- 1957Fighting Letter for 29 People
- 1957Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp
- 1957Lord Mito
- 1957Shiranui zukin
- 1956Case Files of Zenigata Heiji: The Human-Skin Spider
- 1956Haha shirayuki
- 1956Koshimoto gyōjōki
- 1956Matashirō Fighting Journey
- 1956The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations — Court Lady Fujinami
- 1955Hana no nijū hachinin shū
- 1955Nagasaki no yoru
- 1955The Roar of The Lion
- 1955The Rust Cleaner Sings
- 1955Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Dokuro kago
- 1954Akōgishi
- 1954Date sōdō: Haha goten
- 1954Hana no nagadosu
- 1954Maiko monogatari
- 1954Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
- 1954Tekka bugyō
- 1954Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
- 1954The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
- 1954The Great White Tiger Platoon
- 1954Tsumakoi kuroda bushi
- 1954Yoidore nitōryū
- 1953Dekoboko taikōki
- 1953Ghost of Saga Mansion — Otoyo-no-kata
- 1953Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
- 1953Haha no hitomi
- 1953Love Letter
- 1953Shachō hisho
- 1953Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki
- 1951Judge of the Ashuras
- 1951Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
- 1951Tales of a Drifter
- 1950Blue Sky Angel
- 1950Kagebōshi — 千賀
- 1950Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
- 1949Doburoku no Tatsu
- 1949Doku bara
- 1949Odoroki ikka
- 1949Three Mothers
- 1947Female Prisoner #36
- 1947Hakata Dontaku
- 1947Invitation to Happiness
- 1947Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
- 1947Political Theater
- 1946Life Is like a Somersault
- 1944Four Marriages
- 1944The Most Beautiful — Noriko Mizushima, dorm mother
- 1942Green Earth
- 1942Mother Never Dies
- 1942Omokage no machi
- 1942Sky of Hope — Makiko
- 1942Wings of Victory
- 1941Dancers of Awa
- 1941The Battle of Kawanakajima — Chiyono - widow
- 1941White Heron
- 1941Yukiko and Natsuyo — Yukiko
- 1940The Snake Princess
- 1939Enoken’s Shrewd Period
- 1939Madam with a Ribbon
- 1939Sincerity — Tobiko Haseyama
- 1938Family Diary Part II
- 1938Tojuro's Love
- 1937A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
- 1937A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
- 1937A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
- 1937A Woman's Sorrows
- 1937Karayuki-san
- 1937Learn from Experience, Part One — Toyomi
- 1937Learn from Experience, Part Two — Toyomi
- 1937Mother's Melody
- 1937Shirobara wa sakedo
- 1936Great Bodhisattva Pass 2 — Ohama
- 1936Kuriyama Daizen
- 1935Great Bodhisattva Pass
- 1934Karisome no kuchibeni — Akiko, Producer
- 1934Tsuki yori no shisha — Michiko Nonoguchi, nurse
- 1933The Water Magician — Taki no Shiraito, Producer
- 1932The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia — Shiho Hime, Producer
- 1931Jean Valjean: Part One
- 1931Jean Valjean: Part Two
- 1931Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
- 1930Behold This Mother
- 1930Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown — Workwoman
- 1929A Living Puppet — Hiroko Kumikawa
- 1929Matenro sôtohen
- 1929Metropolitan Symphony — Reiko Yamada
- 1929The Morning Sun Shines — girl in the elevator
- 1929Tokyo March — 早百合
- Kakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
Appearances as themselves (1)
- 1975Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director — Self