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Kumeko Urabe

Acting Born Oct 5, 1902 Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan 24 credits

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.

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Known for

Film

Ikiru

as Tatsu Watanabe
Film

Hachiko

as Tobacco Shop Owner

Full filmography

  • Ikiru (1952) as Tatsu Watanabe
  • Hachiko (1987) as Tobacco Shop Owner
  • White Runway (1974)
  • Street of Shame (1956) as Otane
  • Kininaru Yomesan (1971)
  • Tokyo Twilight (1957) as Komatsu's Mistress
  • Lonely Heart (1985) as Fuki Inoue
  • Portrait of Madame Yuki (1950) as San
  • Floating Weeds (1959) as Shige
  • Twenty-Four Eyes (1954) as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
  • Two in the Shadow (1967)
  • Yearning (1964) as Bar Madam
  • Repast (1951) as Taniguchi Shige
  • Early Spring (1956) as Shige Kitagawa
  • Stakeout (1958) as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
  • The Body (1962)
  • Snow Country (1957)
  • Stray Dog (1973)
  • Moment of Terror (1966) as Hisako Kanematsu
  • The Makioka Sisters (1959)
  • Tora-san's Pure Love (1976)
  • Bridge of Japan (1956)
  • Lightning (1952) as Osei
  • Teinen Taishoku (1963)