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Kumeko Urabe

Actor

Kumeko Urabe

Born October 5, 1902 in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, JapanDied October 26, 1989243 films

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.

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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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The best way into Kumeko Urabe's work
Ikiru posterFirst watchIkiru19528.3as Tatsu WatanabeKanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach
Hachiko poster7.8Hachiko1987Floating Weeds poster7.5Floating Weeds1959Tokyo Twilight poster7.7Tokyo Twilight1957Street of Shame poster7.7Street of Shame1956Yearning poster8.1Yearning1964Twenty-Four Eyes poster7.7Twenty-Four Eyes1954Early Spring poster7.5Early Spring1956

Filmography

243 films as actor
  1. TBAKakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
  2. 1987HachikoTobacco Shop Owner
  3. 1985Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki
  4. 1985Lonely HeartFuki Inoue
  5. 1984The Cold-Hearted Sea
  6. 1984Lovely DaysOld lady
  7. 1980Before SpringToyo
  8. 1976Tora-san's Pure Love
  9. 1973Stray Dog
  10. 1972Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba WataridoriTsue
  11. 1971The Secret Ceremony
  12. 1971Adults Games
  13. 1970喜劇 右向けェ左！
  14. 1970Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back
  15. 1970The Final Gamble
  16. 1969The Bad Guy Blues
  17. 1969Girl in College
  18. 1969Season of Tears
  19. 1969Twenty-One Concubines: The Life of a Pervert
  20. 1969River Of Love
  21. 1968I Sell My Husband
  22. 1967Happiness For You — Sentimental Boy
  23. 1967Two in the Shadow
  24. 1967Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
  25. 1967Yanagase BluesKane Sasagawa
  26. 1967Flower Cards Chivalry
  27. 1966Game of ChanceSugi
  28. 1966The Pretty Jade
  29. 1966Nocturnal Lights
  30. 1966Moment of TerrorHisako Kanematsu
  31. 1966Women Doing Time
  32. 1966Four and A Half MatsRiku
  33. 1965Secret Club 000
  34. 1965The Passionate SpinsterTokiko Tsurukawa
  35. 1965An Innocent Witch
  36. 1965Chained Bitch
  37. 1965Dupe
  38. 1965Color
  39. 1964Night ScandalShino
  40. 1964Destroyer Yukikaze
  41. 1964Jakoman and TetsuTaka
  42. 1964YearningBar Madam
  43. 1963We Are SalarymenShizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
  44. 196318 RoughsGin Ishii
  45. 1963Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
  46. 1963Uogashi no senpū musume
  47. 1963Teinen Taishoku
  48. 1962Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
  49. 1962Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
  50. 1962Being Two Isn't EasyIno
  51. 1962The Body
  52. 1962Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
  53. 1962Kyū-chan ondo
  54. 1962The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
  55. 1962The Broken CommandmentOwner of the hotel
  56. 1962ErikoOshima
  57. 1962Kono ni uruwashi
  58. 1962Koshū
  59. 1962Teppo Yasu no Shogai
  60. 1962Haru no sanmyaku
  61. 1962Night Mist Makes Women CryYoshi Namikawa
  62. 1962Nippon no obaachanWaka
  63. 1961Ganpā kachō
  64. 1961Love's Family Tree
  65. 1961Refresher Course for Wives
  66. 1961Love and the Shop Curtain
  67. 1960The Legendary HellOsumi
  68. 1960Tsukinode no kettoOtani
  69. 1960The Woman Who Touched Legs
  70. 1960Scarred Yosaburo
  71. 1960Irohanihoheto
  72. 1960The Song Lantern
  73. 1960Storm on the Silvery PeaksOld woman
  74. 1960Victory and DefeatSato
  75. 1960White Cliffs
  76. 1960A Woman's Testament
  77. 1960When a Woman LovesOtome
  78. 1959Floating WeedsShige
  79. 1959Tokyo Omnibus
  80. 1959Hear My Mother's Cry
  81. 1959Blind Love
  82. 1959Romance of a Ferry Man
  83. 1959Diary of a Substitute Doctor
  84. 1959The Song of the Cart
  85. 1959The Makioka Sisters
  86. 1959Goodbye, HelloRestaurant owner
  87. 1958Yurakucho 0 StreetMother of A 16号
  88. 1958A Grain of Wheat
  89. 1958Flower's YearningMuraki Sawa
  90. 1958Confronting Fear
  91. 1958The Cat Knew
  92. 1958The Precipice
  93. 1958A Bridge for Two Alone
  94. 1958Mother
  95. 1958Hibi no haishin
  96. 1958StakeoutProprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
  97. 1958Tokyo Eyes
  98. 1957Inazuma Kaidō
  99. 1957Monkey BusinessYone
  100. 1957Elegy of the NorthGrandma
  101. 1957Fighting Letter for 29 People
  102. 1957Snow Country
  103. 1957Tokyo TwilightKomatsu's Mistress
  104. 1957続二等兵物語　決戦体制の巻
  105. 1957Typhoon Over Nagasaki
  106. 1957Itohan MonogatariOkô
  107. 1957Young Lovers
  108. 1956Sound in the Mist
  109. 1956Here It is Quiet
  110. 1956Training Ship of Yearning
  111. 1956Bridge of Japan
  112. 1956Horeruna Yanpachi
  113. 1956俺は死なない
  114. 1956Studio wa ōsawagi
  115. 1956Children Seeking a MotherOlder Woman
  116. 1956Asashio yushio
  117. 1956Sound of Youth
  118. 1956Yaneura no Onna-tachi
  119. 1956Twice on a Certain Night
  120. 1956Headquarters of Crime Detection