Akira Kurosawa

1910 – 1998 · died at about 88^[1][2]

Film & Entertainment

Fun Facts About Akira Kurosawa

• Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress influenced Star Wars. George Lucas later pushed 20th Century Fox to produce Kurosawa's Kagemusha and recruited Francis Ford Coppola as co-producer.^[1][3][4]
• Kurosawa first planned to become a painter. His older brother Heigo worked as a benshi, a silent film narrator for foreign films in Tokyo theaters.^[1]
• Kurosawa entered film by answering a studio ad with a half-mocking essay: if the deficiencies of Japanese films were fundamental, he argued, there was no way to correct them.^[1]
• Kurosawa spent years on the Pearl Harbor film Tora! Tora! Tora! but did not contribute a single foot of film shot himself, and had his name removed from the credits.^[1]
• When Japanese studios would not back his film Dreams, Kurosawa turned to Steven Spielberg, who convinced Warner Bros. to buy its international rights.^[1][5][6]
• According to an assistant, a letter from Kurosawa meant more to Stanley Kubrick than any Oscar, and he agonized for months over drafting a reply.^[1][7][8]
• Akira Kurosawa was alive at the same time as Malala Yousafzai — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1997–1998).^{[1][2][9][10]}
• Akira Kurosawa and Suleiman the Magnificent died on the same day of the year, September 6.^{[1][2][11][12]}

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. With a bold and dynamic style strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Known as a hands-on filmmaker, he was heavily involved with all aspects of production as a director, writer, producer, and editor.^[1]

Contemporaries

Bob Hope

88 yr overlap

Mother Teresa

87 yr overlap

Jacques Cousteau

87 yr overlap

Ronald Reagan

87 yr overlap

Naguib Mahfouz

87 yr overlap

Rosa Parks

85 yr overlap

Gerald Ford

85 yr overlap

Dorothy Hodgkin

84 yr overlap

Hedy Lamarr

84 yr overlap

Frank Sinatra

83 yr overlap

Marlene Dietrich

82 yr overlap

Richard Nixon

81 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Akira Kurosawa

When was Akira Kurosawa born?

Akira Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910, and died on September 6, 1998.

How old was Akira Kurosawa at death?

Akira Kurosawa was born on March 23, 1910, and died on September 6, 1998, at age 88.

What was Akira Kurosawa known for?

Akira Kurosawa was known for: Seven Samurai, master filmmaker. Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. With a bold and dynamic style strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Known as a hands-on filmmaker, he was heavily involved with all aspects of production as a director, writer, producer, and editor.

Who was alive at the same time as Akira Kurosawa?

Akira Kurosawa's closest contemporary was Bob Hope. Their lives overlapped for 88 years.