Isuzu Yamada
- Acting
- February 5, 1917 · Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- July 9, 2012
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
Known for
Filmography
- Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create: 'Throne of Blood' · Self
- Kurosawa · Self
- Sure Death! Brown, You Bounder! · Oriku
- Sure Death
- Suspicion · Tokie Horiuchi
- Arashi Tatsunari · Tatsu
- Shin Hissatsu Shigotonin
- Japanese Ghost Story Masterpiece Theater: The Ghost of Yotsuya
- Hissatsu Shigotonin · Otowa
- Ameyuki-san · Waka Yamada
- Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy · Oeyo
- Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director · Self
- Woman Boss
- Minamoto no Yoshitsune · Joban
- Akō Rōshi · Riku
- Sakiko-san chotto · 中川しの
- The Body
- The Great Wall · Dowager Empress
- 365 Nights
- 假名手本忠臣蔵
- Glory on the Summit · Taka Hirooka
- Four Sisters · Tatsuko Katagiri
- Buddha · Kalideva
- Case of a Young Lord 9: Black Camellia
- The Orphan Brother · Yashio (Voice)
- Yojimbo · Orin
- The Shrikes
- 誰よりも金を愛す
- Daredevil in the Castle · Yodogami
- Wanderer's Story: Checkmate
- Deep River Melody
- Onatsu Detective Case: Mad Slasher
- The Lovelorn Geisha
- Hanjiro of Kusama: Bird of Passage · Otoku
- Bonchi · Sei
- Secret
- Goodbye to Glory · Otake
- Mission Accomplished
- Princess Sen in Edo · Kisaragi
- Pineapple Butai · Shigeyo (Mother)
- Disappearance in the Night
- A Gambler as I Am
- Love in the Mountains
- Man of Edo
- Hear My Mother's Cry
- The Canary Cage, Spellbound Love
- The Hidden Treasure
- The Days of Evil Women
- The Undefeated Woman
- The Spell of the Hidden Gold · Chizuin
- Taikoki - The Saga of Hideyoshi
- The Shop Curtain
- The Seasons of Love · Urako
- A Boy and Three Mothers · Natsu, the Foster Mother
- Samurai Nippon
- Downtown · Riyo Yazawa
- Black River · Mikiko, landlady
- The Lower Depths · Osugi the Landlady
- A Matter of Valour
- The Shadow Daughter · Okinu
- Tokyo Twilight · Kisako Soma
- The Horse Boy
- Throne of Blood · Lady Asaji Washizu
- The Mandarin Room · Inako
- Flowing · Otsuta
- Shozo, a Cat and Two Women · Shinako
- Five Patriots of Kyoto
- How Sorrowful
- Mother and Child
- Farewell to Dream · Seiji's mother, Kiyo
- Namida no hanamichi · 江戸紫女将そよ
- 大当り男一代 · お吉
- Ishigassen
- Such is Life · Oharu
- Christ in Bronze · Kimika
- 荒木又右衛門 · 妻みね
- Minamoto Yoshitsune
- 振袖釼法 · 母つじ
- If Indeed One Loves · Yaeko (segment 3)
- Growing Up