Masayuki Mori


Actor
Masayuki Mori

About

Birth Place
Japan
Born
January 13, 1911
Died
October 07, 1963

Biography

Masayuki Mori, born Yukimitsu Arishima, was a Japanese actor best remembered for his work with legendary director Akira Kurosawa, notably on the latter's masterpiece "Rashomon" and later in several of his other great films. The son of novelist Takeo Arishima, Mori studied at Kyoto University and quickly found work on the stage. He began his career-spanning collaboration with Kurosawa in ...

Biography

Masayuki Mori, born Yukimitsu Arishima, was a Japanese actor best remembered for his work with legendary director Akira Kurosawa, notably on the latter's masterpiece "Rashomon" and later in several of his other great films. The son of novelist Takeo Arishima, Mori studied at Kyoto University and quickly found work on the stage. He began his career-spanning collaboration with Kurosawa in 1945, when he co-starred in the adventure drama "The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail." He then began another career-long collaboration, this time with Kozaburo Yoshimura in his 1947 family drama, "Anjo-ke no butokai." Mori carried on working with the two famed directors as Japan entered a dark period after World War II. He worked again with Kurosawa on "Rashomon," where he portrayed the husband/victim Kanazawa-no-Takehiro, and next as Kinji Kameda in the adaptation of "The Idiot." Mori's intense expressiveness and his background on the stage served him well, and he soon became one of Japan's most respected actors. His roles throughout the '50s, in the 16th-century Japan-set "Ugetsu" and in Mikio Naruse's World War II film "Ukigumo," further established him as Japan's top talent. Of the dozens of features he starred in throughout the '60s, the most notable was Kurosawa's "The Bad Sleep Well," where Mori appeared as a corrupt company vice president.

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Rashomon (1950) -- (Movie Clip) I Wouldn't Have Killed Him The first testimony by the bandit Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), about his meeting the Samurai (Masayuki Mori) and his wife (Machiko Kyo), as the trial begins in Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, 1950.
Rashomon (1950) -- (Movie Clip) My Blood Turns Cold The beginning of the testimony of the bereaved wife (Machiko Kyo), about the eventual murder of her husband (Masayuki Mori) by the bandit Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune), in Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, 1950.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Nothing But Pots Potter Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) risks his life, running to the village to check his kiln before the soldiers have left, and gets lucky, in Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Lady Wakasa Humble potter Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) is received in the home of the diabolical Lady Wakasa (Machiko Kyo) in a famous scene from Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, A New Re-Fashioning Opening sequence from Kenji Mizoguchi's landmark Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953, from stories by Akinari Ueda, starring Masayuki Mori, Kasae Ozawa and Machiko Kyo.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Ghost Of The Lake Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), Tobei (Kasae Ozawa) and their wives meet a dying traveler in the famous boat sequence from Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953.
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Big Future Potter Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), wife Miyagi (Kinuyo Tanaka), malcontent Tobei (Kasae Ozawa) and his wife Ohama (Mitsuko Mito) are introduced in the first scene from Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari, 1953.

Bibliography