Film · Literature · Art · 1910–1998
Born: 23 March 1910 · Died: 6 September 1998 · Age at death: 88
Akira Kurosawa died aged 88. He was born on 23 March 1910 and died on 6 September 1998.
Japanese director of Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Ran, whose films influenced Westerns and Star Wars
Did you know?He initially trained as a painter, which helped him create detailed sketches for every scene in his movies.
Kurosawa is one of the most influential film directors who ever lived, and his fingerprints are all over modern cinema. Rashomon, which tells the same crime from several contradictory viewpoints, won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and introduced Japanese film to Western audiences. Seven Samurai pioneered the idea of assembling a team for a mission, a plot structure used in countless later films. His work inspired Westerns such as The Magnificent Seven and helped shape Star Wars. He blended Japanese history with Shakespeare, adapting Macbeth and King Lear into samurai epics.
Akira Kurosawa (黒澤 明 or 黒沢 明, Kurosawa Akira; March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades.
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Profile
Japanese film director, born 1910
Akira Kurosawa was born in Ōi on 23 March 1910.
He directed Rashomon and Seven Samurai.
Rashomon won the Golden Lion in 1951.
He received an honorary Oscar in 1990.
Career highlights
Did you know?Seven Samurai inspired the western The Magnificent Seven.
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