[AmericanInTokyo]

Actually, I struck up a conversation with him one day in the lobby-level bar of the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo about 10 years ago. It was only 4:00 p.m. and he was already starting--alone. Seemed like a lonely fellow but quite approachable and not arrogant at all. He seemed pleased to talk with me a little bit in Japanese--he might have dismissed me if I rambled on in English--another benefit to languages. And yes, even off camera, Mifune had that gruff samurai grunt way of talking that John Belushi copied. Poor fellow. R.I.P.

[AnAmericanMother]

Mifune was amazing in "Seven Samurai". First exposure I ever had to Japanese tradition, after the writings of Lafcadio Hearn, which enchanted me as a child (and still do). I have told some of his versions of traditional Japanese ghost stories to a tough audience (6th grade boys) with very good effect. Does anybody remember "Herun-san" in Japan nowadays?