Kumeko Urabe
Acting
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.
Known for
Acting208
movieHachiko
1987
Tobacco Shop Owner
movieLonely Heart
1985
Fuki Inoue
movieLovely Days
1984
Old lady
movieYanagase Blues
1967
Kane Sasagawa
movieMoment of Terror
1966
Hisako Kanematsu
movieThe Passionate Spinster
1965
Tokiko Tsurukawa
movieYearning
1964
Bar Madam
movieWe Are Salarymen
1963
Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
movie18 Roughs
1963
Gin Ishii
movieThe Broken Commandment
1962
Owner of the hotel
Eriko
1962
Oshima
movieStorm on the Silvery Peaks
1960
Old woman
movieGoodbye, Hello
1959
Restaurant owner
movieYurakucho 0 Street
1958
Mother of A 16号
movieFlower's Yearning
1958
Muraki Sawa
movieStakeout
1958
Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
movieElegy of the North
1957
Grandma
movieTokyo Twilight
1957
Komatsu's Mistress
movieChildren Seeking a Mother
1956
Older Woman
movieEarly Spring
1956
Shige Kitagawa
movieShe Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
1955
Grandmother
movieA Woman's Life
1955
Nobuko's mother
movieSomewhere Beneath the Wide Sky
1954
Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
movieTwenty-Four Eyes
1954
Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
movieThe Wild Geese
1953
Otsune
movieBrother and Sister
1953
Riki - the Mother
movieWhere Chimneys Are Seen
1953
Kayo Nojima
movieIkiru
1952
Tatsu Watanabe
movie母子鶴
1952
Onao
movieWedding March
1951
Auntie
movieRepast
1951
Taniguchi Shige
Golden Beast
1950
Connie Sonobe's mother
movieDuel in the Sun
1950
Boarding house landlady
movieThe Rainbow Man
1949
Kane Nonomura
movieWomen of the Night
1948
Brothel Keeper
movieThe 26 Martyrs of Japan
1931
Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
