Miyamoto Musashi, Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954

Stray dog, Akira Kurosawa, 1949

Rebellion, Masaki Kobayashi, 1967

Rashomon,Akira Kurosawa, 1950

High and low, Akira Kurosawa, 1963

Red Beard, Akira Kurosawa, 1965

Rebellion, Masaki Kobayashi, 1967

Stray dog, Akira Kurosawa, 1949

Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa, 1950

The quiet duel, Akira Kurosawa, 1948

Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa, 1950

The idiot, Akira Kurosawa, 1951

Samurai, Kihachi Okamoto, 1965

Miyamoto Musashi, Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954

The hidden fortress, Akira Kurosawa, 1958

Yojimbo, Akira Kurosawa, 1961

Hell in the Pacific, John Boorman, 1968

The quiet duel, Akira Kurosawa, 1948

The hidden fortress, Akira Kurosawa, 1958

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

Drunken Angel, Akira Kurosawa, 1948

Miyamoto Musashi, Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954

Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa, 1962

Conduct report on Professor Ishinaka, Mikio Naruse, 1950

The bad sleep well, Akira Kurosawa, 1960

Yojimbo, Akira Kurosawa, 1961

Scandal, Akira Kurosawa, 1950

Conduct report on Professor Ishinaka, Mikio Naruse, 1950

Zatoichi meets Yojimbo, Kihachi Okamoto, 1970

Yojimbo, Akira Kurosawa, 1961

Red Lion, Kihachi Okamoto, 1969

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa, 1962

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

The last gunfight, Kihachi Okamoto, 1960

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

The rickshaw man, Hiroshi Inagaki, 1958

Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa, 1962

The rickshaw man, Hiroshi Inagaki, 1958

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

The last gunfight, Kihachi Okamoto, 1960

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

Red Lion, Kihachi Okamoto, 1969

Life of a horse-trader, Keigo Kimura, 1951

The hidden fortress, Akira Kurosawa, 1958

Red Lion, Kihachi Okamoto, 1969

Seven samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

Sanjuro, Akira Kurosawa, 1962

Conduct report on Professor Ishinaka, Mikio Naruse, 1950

Zatoichi meets Yojimbo, Kihachi Okamoto, 1970

Toshiro Mifune '

Was Drafted into the Japanese Army in China the Quantum Army in 1939

Stuck in the Army

The Eighth Aviation Training Corps

Skills as a Photographer

Private First Class Toshiro Mifune on July 1st 1945

Martial Arts Film Top 10

Five Element Ninjas (aka Chinese Super Ninjas) - 1982

Unleashed - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Five Deadly Venoms

Toshiro Mifune was born on April 1, 1920, in Qingdao, Shandong province, China; his Japanese parents were serving as Methodist missionaries during Japan's occupation of that city.

Mifune didn't set foot in Japan until he was 20 years old. As a Japanese citizen, he was drafted into the Japanese army and assigned to the Aerial Photography Unit for the duration of World War II.

After seeing the young Mifune audition, director Akira Kurosawa wrote that he'd witnessed "a young man reeling around the room in a violent frenzy...It was as frightening as watching a wounded beast trying to break loose. I was transfixed."

Mifune and Kurosawa would go on to forge one of the greatest actor- director collaborations in the history of cinema. Kurosawa cast Mifune in prominent roles in 16 of his next 17 directorial efforts.

After the two-year ordeal of filming RED BEARD (1965), which caused Mifune financial difficulties, he and Kurosawa parted ways. Though they later reconciled, they never worked together again.

Mifune's facility with other languages allowed him to appear in international productions such as HELL IN THE PACIFIC (1968), TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970), SOLEIL ROUGE (1971), MIDWAY (1976) and 1941 (1979).

Mifune is perhaps remembered in the U.S. for his portrayal of Lord Yoshi Toranaga in NBC's hit miniseries SHOGUN (1980), which was based on James Clavell's bestselling novel of the same name.

Mifune, who was awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (1986) and the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1993) by the Japanese government, died in Tokyo of multiple organ failure on December 24, 1997.