Kumeko Urabe
Born: 1902-10-05 in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Died: 1989-10-26
Known For: Acting
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.
Filmography
1987
- Hachiko as Tabacco Shop Owner
1985
- Miss Lonely as Fuki Inoue
1984
1980
- Before Spring as Toyo
1976
1974
1973
1972
1968
1967
- Two in the Shadow
- Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
- Yanagase Blues as Kane Sasagawa
- Flower Cards Chivalry
1966
- Women Doing Time
- Nocturnal Lights
- Four and A Half Mats as Riku
- The Pretty Jade
- Moment of Terror as Hisako Kanematsu
- Game of Chance as Sugi
1965
- An Innocent Witch
- Color
- Secret Club 000
- Chained Bitch
- Dupe
- The Passionate Spinster as Tokiko Tsurukawa
1964
- Yearning as Bar Madam
- Night Scandal as Shino
- Destroyer Yukikaze
- Jakoman and Tetsu as Taka
1963
- We Are Salarymen as Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
- Uogashi no senpū musume
- Teinen Taishoku
- 18 Roughs as Gin Ishii
- Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
1962
- Teppo Yasu no Shogai
- Being Two Isn't Easy as Ino
- The Body
- 湖愁
- The Broken Commandment as Owner of the hotel
- Haru no sanmyaku
- Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
- Kono ni uruwashi
- Night Mist Makes Women Cry as Yoshi Namikawa
- Eriko as Oshima
- Sarari man donto bushi - Kiraku na kagyô to kita monda
- Kyū-chan ondo
- Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
- Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
- Nippon no obaachan as Waka
1960
- Scarred Yosaburo
- When a Woman Loves as Otome
- A Woman's Testament
- Victory and Defeat as Sato
- White Cliffs
- Tsukinode no ketto as Otani
- Irohanihoheto
- The Song Lantern
- The Woman Who Touched Legs
- Storm on the Silvery Peaks as Old woman
1959
- Floating Weeds as Shige
- The Makioka Sisters
- Goodbye, Hello as Restaurant owner
- Diary of a Substitute Doctor
- Tokyo Omnibus
- The Song of the Cart
1958
- Stakeout as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
- Mother
- A Grain of Wheat
- Hibi no haishin
- Tokyo Eyes
- Confronting Fear
- The Precipice
- A Bridge for Two Alone
- Yurakucho 0 Street as Mother of A 16号
- Flower's Yearning as Muraki Sawa
1957
- Tokyo Twilight as Komatsu's Mistress
- Young Lovers
- Snow Country
- Fighting Letter for 29 People
- Itohan Monogatari as Okô
- Inazuma Kaidō
- Elegy of the North as Grandma
- Typhoon Over Nagasaki
- 続二等兵物語 決戦体制の巻
1956
1955
- She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum as Grandmother
- The Refugee
- A Woman's Life as Nobuko's mother
- Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree as Tomi
- Fantasy of Youth
- A Man Among Men as Okimi
- (Street of Wandering Pigeons) When Will the Birds Come Home as Masa
- The Magistrate
1954
- Twenty-Four Eyes as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
- The Golden Demon as Tose
- Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky as Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
- The Story of Shunkin
- A Certain Woman as Tome
- Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
- Koina no Ginpei
- Victory or Defeat
1953
- The Wild Geese as Otsune
- Where Chimneys Are Seen as Kayo Nojima
- Brother and Sister as Riki - the Mother
- Bot-chan as Kiyo
- An Heir's Place
1952
- Ikiru as Tatsu Watanabe
- Lightning as Osei
- 母山彦
- 母子鶴 as Onao
- A Ripple in a Morning
- Shi no machi wo nogarete
- Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
1951
- Repast as Taniguchi Shige
- Wedding March as Auntie
- The Life of a Horse Trader as Onobu
- Hibari no komoriuta
1950
- Portrait of Madame Yuki as San
- Snow-Flake
- Duel in the Sun as Boarding house landlady
- Oogonju as Connie Sonobe's mother
- A Mother's Love
1949
- The Rainbow Man as Kane Nonomura
- Ginza Cancan Girls
- Akireta musumetachi
1948
- Women of the Night as Brothel Keeper
- Nocturnal Gate
1946
- A Face Glowing at Night
- Aru yo no seppun as Takako
1943
- The Man From Chungking as 妻とよ
- The Tiger of Malaya as Tomi
1942
1941
1939
1938
1937
- The Straits of Love and Hate as Ume
1934
1933
- The Water Magician as Ogin
- The Feast of Gion
1931
- And Yet They Go On
- The 26 Martyrs of Japan as Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
- Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
1930
- Mistress of a Foreigner as Omatsu
1927
- Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue as Otoku