Death of Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa died on 6 September 1998 in Seijō, aged 88. A Japanese film director, screenwriter and producer, Kurosawa is among the most influential figures in the history of cinema. His film Rashomon won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1951 and introduced Japanese film to Western audiences. He followed it with Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo and later Dersu Uzala and Ran, often working with the actor Toshiro Mifune. His films combine dramatic action with humanist themes, and he drew on Shakespeare and Russian literature as well as Japanese history. Directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have acknowledged his influence, and he received an honorary Oscar in 1990.

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