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 Tobacco Shop Owner
1985
- Lonely Heart as Fuki Inoue
1984
1980
- Before Spring as Toyo
1976
1975
1974
1973
1972
1969
1968
1967
- Two in the Shadow
- Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
- Yanagase Blues as Kane Sasagawa
- Flower Cards Chivalry
1966
- Moment of Terror as Hisako Kanematsu
- Game of Chance as Sugi
- Four and A Half Mats as Riku
- Women Doing Time
- The Pretty Jade
- Nocturnal Lights
1965
- An Innocent Witch
- Chained Bitch
- The Passionate Spinster as Tokiko Tsurukawa
- Secret Club 000
- Dupe
- Color
1964
- Yearning as Bar Madam
- Jakoman and Tetsu as Taka
- Destroyer Yukikaze
- Night Scandal as Shino
1963
- 18 Roughs as Gin Ishii
- Uogashi no senpū musume
- We Are Salarymen as Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
- Teinen Taishoku
- Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
1962
- The Broken Commandment as Owner of the hotel
- Being Two Isn't Easy as Ino
- The Body
- Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
- Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
- Teppo Yasu no Shogai
- Nippon no obaachan as Waka
- Kyū-chan ondo
- Haru no sanmyaku
- Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
- Kono ni uruwashi
- Night Mist Makes Women Cry as Yoshi Namikawa
- Koshū
- Eriko as Oshima
- The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
1960
- A Woman's Testament
- Irohanihoheto
- White Cliffs
- The Song Lantern
- Victory and Defeat as Sato
- Storm on the Silvery Peaks as Old woman
- Tsukinode no ketto as Otani
- When a Woman Loves as Otome
- Scarred Yosaburo
- The Woman Who Touched Legs
1959
- Floating Weeds as Shige
- Tokyo Omnibus
- Goodbye, Hello as Restaurant owner
- The Makioka Sisters
- Diary of a Substitute Doctor
- The Song of the Cart
- Hear My Mother's Cry
- Blind Love
1958
- Stakeout as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
- Mother
- A Bridge for Two Alone
- The Precipice
- Tokyo Eyes
- Confronting Fear
- Hibi no haishin
- A Grain of Wheat
- Flower's Yearning as Muraki Sawa
- The Cat Knew
- Yurakucho 0 Street as Mother of A 16号
1957
- Tokyo Twilight as Komatsu's Mistress
- 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
- Monkey Business as Yone
- Young Lovers
1956
- Early Spring as Shige Kitagawa
- Street of Shame as Otane
- Twice on a Certain Night
- Bridge of Japan
- 刑事部屋
- 俺は死なない
- Yaneura no Onna-tachi
- Sound in the Mist
- Children Seeking a Mother as Older Woman
- Training Ship of Yearning
- Here It is Quiet
- Seishun no oto
- Dadakko Shachou
1955
- You Were Like a Wild Chrysanthemum as Grandmother
- House of Many Pleasures as Masa
- A Man Among Men as Okimi
- Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree as Tomi
- The Refugee
- A Woman's Life as Nobuko's mother
- Fantasy of Youth
- The Magistrate
- Youth
1954
- Twenty-Four Eyes as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
- A Certain Woman as Tome
- Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky as Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
- The Story of Shunkin
- Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
- Victory or Defeat
- The Golden Demon as Tose
- Koina no Ginpei
- 東京シンデレラ娘
1953
- Brother and Sister as Riki - the Mother
- The Wild Geese as Otsune
- Where Chimneys Are Seen as Kayo Nojima
- Bot-chan as Kiyo
- An Heir's Place
1952
- Ikiru as Tatsu Watanabe
- Lightning as Osei
- A Ripple in a Morning
- Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
- Shi no machi wo nogarete
- 母山彦
- 母子鶴 as Onao
- Oka wa hanazakari
1951
- Repast as Taniguchi Shige
- The Life of a Horse Trader as Onobu
- Hibari no komoriuta
- Wedding March as Auntie
1950
- Portrait of Madame Yuki as San
- A Mother's Love
- Duel in the Sun as Boarding house landlady
- Snow-Flake
- Golden Beast as Connie Sonobe's mother
1949
- Ginza Cancan Girls
- Akireta musumetachi
- The Rainbow Man as Kane Nonomura
- Hills of a Foreign Country as Iku
1948
- Women of the Night as Brothel Keeper
- Nocturnal Gate
1946
1943
- The Tiger of Malaya as Tomi
- The Man From Chungking as 妻とよ
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