Isuzu Yamada
Born: 1917-02-05 in Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Died: 2012-07-09
Known For: Acting
Biography
Isuzu Yamada (山田 五十鈴, Yamada Isuzu, 5 February 1917 – 9 July 2012) was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades. Yamada was born in Osaka as Mitsu Yamada, the daughter of Kusudu Yamada, a shinpa actor specialising in onnagata roles, and Ritsu, a geisha. Yamada debuted as a film actress in 1930 at age twelve, appearing in the Nikkatsu film Tsurugi wo koete. She soon became one of Nikkatsu's top actresses, but it was her portrayals of strong-willed modern girls in Kenji Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion in 1936 at the new Daiichi Eiga studio that earned her popularity and critical acclaim. Moving to Shinkō Kinema and then to Toho, she became a star with Mikio Naruse's Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro (1938). During the second half of the 1950s, Yamada's main attention shifted towards the stage, but she still appeared in a number of distinguished films like Naruse's Flowing (1956), Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Twilight (1957) and Akira Kurosawa's The Lower Depths (1957) and Throne of Blood (1957). Other directors she worked with during this decade include Keisuke Kinoshita, Kaneto Shindō and Shirō Toyoda. In addition to her theatre engagements, she appeared on television, including the long-running Hissatsu series. Her last TV appearance was in 2002. Yamada died from multiple organ failure in Tokyo on 9 July 2012 at the age of 95. She was married four times, to actor Ichirō Tsukita, to producer Kazuo Takimura, to actor Yoshi Katō, and to actor Tsutomu Shimomoto. Her daughter with Tsukita, Michiko, became known as the actress Michiko Saga (1935–1992). Description above from the Wikipedia article Isuzu Yamada, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Filmography
2000
- Kurosawa as Self
1985
- Sure Death! Brown, You Bounder! as Oriku
1984
1982
- Suspicion as Tokie Horiuchi
- Arashi Tatsunari as Tatsu
1979
- Hissatsu Shigotonin as Otowa
- Japanese Ghost Story Masterpiece Theater: The Ghost of Yotsuya
- Ameyuki-san as Waka Yamada
1978
- Shogun's Samurai as Oeyo
1975
1970
1966
- Minamoto no Yoshitsune as Joban
1964
- Akō Rōshi as Riku
1963
- Sakiko-san chotto as 中川しの
1962
- The Great Wall as Dowager Empress
- The Body
- Four Sisters as Tatsuko Katagiri
- Glory on the Summit as Taka Hirooka
- 365 Nights
- 假名手本忠臣蔵
1961
- Yojimbo as Orin
- The Orphan Brother as Yashio (voice)
- Buddha as Kalideva
- Daredevil in the Castle as Yodogami
- Case of a Young Lord 9: Black Camellia
- 誰よりも金を愛す
- The Shrikes
1960
- Bonchi as Sei
- The Lovelorn Geisha
- Deep River Melody
- Princess Sen in Edo as Kisaragi
- Goodbye to Glory as Otake
- Mission Accomplished
- Onatsu Detective Case: Mad Slasher
- Secret
- Hanjiro of Kusama: Bird of Passage as Otoku
- 風来物語 あばれ飛車
1959
1958
- The Undefeated Woman
- A Boy and Three Mothers as Natsu, the Foster Mother
- Taikoki - The Saga of Hideyoshi
- The Seasons of Love as Urako
- The Spell of the Hidden Gold
- The Shop Curtain
- The Days of Evil Women
1957
- Throne of Blood as Lady Asaji Washizu
- The Lower Depths as Osugi the Landlady
- Tokyo Twilight as Kisako Soma
- Black River as Landlady
- Down Town as Riyo Yazawa
- The Horse Boy
- A Matter of Valour
- The Shadow Daughter
- Samurai Nippon
1956
- Flowing as Otsuta
- Shozo, a Cat and Two Women as Shinako
- Farewell to Dream as Seiji's mother, Kiyo
- How Sorrowful
- 大当り男一代 as お吉
- Namida no hanamichi as 江戸紫女将そよ
- The Mandarin Room
- Mother and Child
- Five Patriots of Kyoto
1955
- Christ in Bronze as Kimika
- If Indeed One Loves as Yaeko (segment 3)
- Minamoto Yoshitsune
- Burden of Love as Some Kaita
- Growing Up
- Such is Life as Oharu
- 荒木又右衛門 as 妻みね
- Chutaro of Banba
- 振袖釼法 as 母つじ
- The Big Ambition
- Ishigassen
1954
- A Billionaire as Hanakuma
- Three Loves as Mother
- Chushingura as Oishi Riku
- Hirate Miki the Swordman
- Karatachi no hana
1953
- Hiroshima as Mineh Obah
- A Lonely Woman in a Lonely Land as Sayo Yamada
- At the End of the Clouds
- Miniature as Tamiko
- Wild Lion
- 江戸いろは祭 as 女房おなか
1952
- The Stand in Hakone
- Become a Mother, Become a Woman as Harue Yasukawa
- Tsukigata Hanpeita as Somehachi
- Castle of Revenge
- Devil’s Statue
- Modern People
1951
- The Inner Palace Conspiracy as Misawa
- Fireworks Over the Sea as Kaoru Uozumi
- Satsuma-bikyaku
- The Killing of Otsuya as Otsuya
- Kurama Tengu: Acrobat in a lion mask
- Five Men of Edo as Okane, Chobei's wife
- Home Sweet Home as Namiko, Kosaku's wife
- 木曽路の決闘 夏祭り三度笠
1950
- Kagebōshi as お夏
- A Mother's Love
- 風雲金毘羅山
- Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
- The Motherland Far Far Away as Masako
- Fencing Master as Oharu
- A Man from Akagi
1947
- Actress as Sumako Matsui
1945
- The Sword as Sasae Onoda
- Until Victory Day
1943
- 音楽大進軍 as Isuzu Yamada
- The Song Lantern as O-Sode
- Kantaro of Ina
1942
- The Man Who Waited
- Onna keizu as Otsuta
- Musashibo Benkei
1941
1940
- Keshô yuki
- The Snake Princess as Oshima
1939
- Ichiyo Higuchi as Ichiyo Higuchi
- Shinpen Tange Sazen: Sekigan no maki as Oshiho
- The Day Before as Osaki
- The Fighting Firemen as Koina
- The New Tange Sazen: The Chapter of the Two-Armed Swordsman
1938
- Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro as Tsuruhachi
1937
- The Siege of Osaka as Senhime
1936
- Osaka Elegy as Ayako Murai
- Sisters of the Gion as O-mocha
1935
- The Downfall of Osen as Osen
- Miss Okichi as Okichi
- Oyuki the Virgin as Oyuki
- The Comb of Oroku as Okinu
1934
- The Elegant Swordsman
- Happy Daughter as Michiko Yamada
- Martial Arts Encyclopedia