Setsuko Hara
Actor
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Setsuko Hara (June 17, 1920 – September 5, 2015) was a Japanese actress who appeared in six of Yasujirō Ozu's films, most notably as Noriko in the "Noriko Trilogy": Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), and Tokyo Story (1953). Her other films for Ozu were Tokyo Twilight (1957), Late Autumn (1960), and finally The End of Summer in 1961.
She was born Masae Aida in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. She came to prominence as an actress at an early age, in the 1937 German-Japanese co-production Die Tochter des Samurai (Daughter of the Samurai), known in Japan as Atarashiki Tsuchi (The New Earth), directed by Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami.
She also starred in films by Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse, and other prominent directors.
She was called "the Eternal Virgin" in Japan and is a symbol of the golden era of Japanese cinema of the 1950s. She suddenly quit acting in 1963 (the same year as Ozu's death), and led a secluded life in Kamakura, refusing all interviews and photographs. Her last major role was Riku, wife of Ōishi Yoshio, in the 1962 film Chushingura. She was the inspiration for the protagonist of the 2001 movie Millennium Actress.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Setsuko Hara, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
Late Spring
as Noriko Somiya 1949
Early Summer
as Noriko Mamiya 1951
Late Autumn
as Akiko Miwa 1960
Tokyo Twilight
as Takako Numata 1957
The Idiot
as Taeko Nasu 1951
The End of Summer
as Akiko 1961
No Regrets for Our Youth
as Yukie Yagihara 1946
Sound of the Mountain
as Ogata Kikuko 1954
Chûshingura
as Riku Oishi 1962
Repast
as Michiyo Okamoto 1951
The Ball at the Anjo House
as Atsuko Anjo 1947
Priest of Darkness
as Onami 1936
Sudden Rain
as Fumiko Namiki 1956
The Three Treasures
as Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess 1959
Here's to the Young Lady
as Yasuko Ikeda 1949
Daughters, Wives and a Mother
as Sanae Soga 1960