In the 1950s, Toei had many popular actors on its books, including Chiezo KATAOKA, Utaemon ICHIKAWA, Ryunosuke TSUKIGATA, Ryutaro OTOMO, Kinnosuke YOROZUYA, Chiyonosuke AZUMA and Hashizo OKAWA, and their work created a period-film boom (Toei Jidaigeki).
1950年代には片岡千恵蔵、市川右太衛門、月形龍之介、大友柳太朗、萬屋錦之介、東千代之介、大川橋蔵らを擁して時代劇ブームを巻き起こした（東映時代劇）。