Kumeko Urabe
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.
Acting
Movie
Ikiru
as Tatsu Watanabe
1952
Movie
Floating Weeds
as Shige
1959
Movie
Hachiko
as Tobacco Shop Owner
1987
Movie
Tokyo Twilight
as Komatsu's Mistress
1957
Movie
Street of Shame
as Otane
1956
Movie
Early Spring
as Shige Kitagawa
1956
Movie
Twenty-Four Eyes
as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
1954
Movie
Yearning
as Bar Madam
1964
Movie
Repast
as Taniguchi Shige
1951
Movie
Two in the Shadow
1967
Movie
Women of the Night
as Brothel Keeper
1948
Movie
Lightning
as Osei
1952
Movie
Portrait of Madame Yuki
as San
1950
Movie
Lonely Heart
as Fuki Inoue
1985
Movie
Brother and Sister
as Riki - the Mother
1953
Movie
Stakeout
as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
1958
Movie
The Water Magician
as Ogin
1933
Movie
You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
as Grandmother
1955
Movie
Being Two Isn't Easy
as Ino
1962
Movie
Where Chimneys Are Seen
as Kayo Nojima
1953
Movie
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
as Self
1975
Movie
Typhoon Over Nagasaki
1957
Movie
Moment of Terror
as Hisako Kanematsu
1966
Movie
The Wild Geese
as Otsune
1953