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