Kumeko Urabe

Biography

Kumeko Urabe (Japanese: 浦辺粂子), born Kimura Kume ((木村 くめ)), (October 5, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was a Japanese movie actress, one of the first in the country. She worked on stage and in film and television. Urabe was born in a rural part of the Shizuoka Prefecture. She lived in several homes while growing up, as she relocated with her father, a Buddhist priest, among the temples to which he was assigned. Urabe completed her education in Numazu, and left school in 1919 to join a theatre company, touring under various stage names as an actor and dancer. In 1923, Urabe auditioned at the film studio Nikkatsu, and adopted the name Kumeko Urabe, by which she was known for the rest of her life. She appeared in her first film the following year, and continued to act until 1987. She worked with such directors as Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse, and performed in over 320 films, including Ikiru, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Portrait of Madame Yuki, She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, and Street of Shame. She also starred in television dramas, including thirteen episodes of Toshiba Sunday Theatre between 1958 and 1980. In the following decade, she carved a niche as a Grandma idol, until her death in 1989.

Filmografi

Ikiru1952 · Tatsu WatanabeHaha sakura1960 · Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki1985 · Twenty-Four Eyes1954 · Otoko Sensei no TsumaHachiko1987 · Tobacco Shop OwnerRepast1951 · Taniguchi ShigeNureta hitomi1959 · Studio wa ōsawagi1956 · Ittōsai wa sebangō 61959 · Floating Weeds1959 · ShigeConvent Bride1946 · Dorei no machi1951 · Okesa karasu1958 · Tokyo Twilight1957 · Komatsu's MistressI Was Tokichiro1955 · Hana no jitsugetsu1949 · Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director1975 · SelfThe Rainbow Man1949 · Kane NonomuraAsashio yushio1956 · Haha no mizūmi1953 · Fire Department1951 · Shinzōyaburi no oka1954 · Tenka o nerau bishōnen1955 · An Innocent Witch1965 ·