Isuzu Yamada
Actor
February 5, 1917 — July 9, 2012 (95 years)
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
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
Known For
Filmography
| 2000 | Aoi: Tokugawa Three Generations · as Odai Kata |
| 1985 | Sure Death! Brown, You Bounder! · as Oriku |
| 1984 | |
| 1982 | Suspicion · as Tokie Horiuchi |
| 1979 | Hissatsu Shigotonin · as Otowa |
| 1978 | Yagyu Clan Conspiracy · as Oeyo |
| 1967 | Ô-oku maruhi monogatari · as Cast |
| 1964 | Akō Rōshi · as Riku |
| 1962 | |
| 1962 | The Great Wall · as Dowager Empress |
| 1962 | 365 Nights · as Cast |
| 1961 | Buddha · as Kalideva |
| 1961 | |
| 1961 | The Littlest Warrior · as Yashio (voice) |
| 1961 | Yojimbo · as Orin |
| 1961 | Daredevil in the Castle · as Yodogami |
| 1960 | |
| 1960 | |
| 1960 | Hanjiro of Kusama: Wanderer in the Mist · as Otoku |
| 1960 | Son · as Sei |
| 1958 | Shiki no aiyoku · as Urako |
| 1957 | Black River · as Landlady |
| 1957 | The Lower Depths · as Osugi The Landlady |
| 1957 | |
| 1957 | Tokyo Twilight · as Kisako SomaOn Plex |
| 1957 | |
| 1957 | Throne of Blood · as Lady Asaji WashizuOn Plex |
| 1956 | Flowing · as Otsuta |
| 1956 | A Cat and Two Women · as Shinako |
| 1956 | Farewell to Dream · as Seiji's Mother, Kiyo |
| 1955 | Ishigassen · as Hiroko |
| 1955 | Jinsei tombo gaeri · as Oharu |
| 1955 | Christ in Bronze · as Kimika |
| 1955 | |
| 1955 | Yatarô gasa · as Cast |
| 1955 | Burden of Love · as Some Kaita |
| 1955 | Tôkyô no sora no shita ni wa · as Cast |
| 1954 | |
| 1954 | Three Loves · as Mother |
| 1953 | Hiroshima · as Mineh Obah |
| 1953 | |
| 1953 | Epitome · as Tamiko |
| 1953 | Onna kanja himon - Akô rôshi · as Yôzen'in |
| 1953 | Kaga sôdô · as Cast |
| 1952 | |
| 1952 | |
| 1951 | Five Men of Edo · as Okane, Chobei's Wife |
| 1951 | Fireworks Over the Sea · as Kaoru Uozumi |
| 1951 | |
| 1950 | Tateshi Danpei · as Oharu |
| 1945 | The Famous Sword Bijomaru · as Sasae Onoda |
| 1944 | |
| 1943 | The Song Lantern · as O-Sode |
| 1938 | Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro · as Tsuruhachi |
| 1936 | Sisters of the Gion · as O-MochaOn Plex |
| 1936 | Osaka Elegy · as Ayako MuraiOn Plex |
| 1935 | Oyuki the Virgin · as OyukiOn Plex |
| 1935 | The Downfall of Osen · as Osen |
| 1932 | The Greatest Man in the World · as Oyae |
| 1976 | Tetsuko's Room · as Self |
| 1975 | |
| 1971 | Great Performances · as Self |