
Kumeko Urabe
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.
163
Films
2
TV Shows
Known For
165 Credits
Ikiru
as Tatsu Watanabe
1952

The Wild Geese
as Otsune
1953

White Runway
1974

Hachiko
as Tobacco Shop Owner
1987

Street of Shame
as Otane
1956

Early Spring
as Shige Kitagawa
1956

Floating Weeds
as Shige
1959

Gateway to Glory
1969

Twenty-Four Eyes
as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
1954

Tokyo Twilight
as Komatsu's Mistress
1957

Kininaru Yomesan
1971

Repast
as Taniguchi Shige
1951