Name
Kumeko Urabe
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1902-10-05
Deathday
1989-10-26 (87 years old)
Place of Birth
Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Biography
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
7.2
In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspe...
7.696
From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanes...
7.5
A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of une...
7.7
Two sisters learn about the existence of their long-lost biological mother, but the younge...
7.7
Follows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passa...
7.8
A man is involved in a fatal car accident, and though he is blameless, his company transfe...
7.113
In early post-war Osaka, three women—war widow Fusako, her Korean expat sister Natsuko, ...
7.5
A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relations...
- 1956 Early Spring as Shige Kitagawa
- 1987 Hachiko as Tobacco Shop Owner
- 1960 Scarred Yosaburo
- 1966 Nocturnal Lights
- 1962 The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
- 1962 Haru no sanmyaku
- 1962 Teppo Yasu no Shogai
- 1927 Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue as Otoku
- 1956 Street of Shame as Otane
- 1962 Koshū
- 1960 Victory and Defeat as Sato
- 1951 Wedding March as Auntie
- 1962 Kono ni uruwashi
- 1950 Duel in the Sun as Boarding house landlady
- 1950 Golden Beast as Connie Sonobe's mother
- 1960 The Song Lantern
- 1956 Bridge of Japan
- 1959 Floating Weeds as Shige
- 1962 Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
- 1965 Dupe
- 1954 Koina no Ginpei
- 1931 The 26 Martyrs of Japan as Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
- 1948 Women of the Night as Brothel Keeper
- 1946 Aru yo no seppun as Takako
- 1966 Women Doing Time
- 1964 Night Scandal as Shino
- 1969 Girl in College
- 1962 The Broken Commandment as Owner of the hotel
- 1964 Yearning as Bar Madam
- 1955 She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum as Grandmother
- 1953 The Wild Geese as Otsune
- 1962 The Body
- 1938 Ah, My Hometown
- 1980 Before Spring as Toyo
- 1962 Being Two Isn't Easy as Ino
- 1937 The Straits of Love and Hate as Ume
- 1951 Hibari no komoriuta
- 1962 Kyū-chan ondo
- 1924 Moken no himitsu
- 1963 18 Roughs as Gin Ishii
- 1954 The Story of Shunkin
- 1965 Secret Club 000
- 1952 Shi no machi wo nogarete
- 1960 When a Woman Loves as Otome
- 1956 Sound in the Mist
- 1930 Mistress of a Foreigner as Omatsu
- 1943 The Man From Chungking as 妻とよ
- 1947 Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
- 1924 Osumi and Her Mother
- 1962 Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
- 1952 母山彦
- 1955 Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree as Tomi
- 1958 The Precipice
- 1958 Confronting Fear
- 1956 俺は死なない
- 1972 Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba Wataridori as Tsue
- 1970 喜劇 右向けェ左！
- 1953 An Heir's Place
- 1955 House of Many Pleasures as Masa
- 1962 Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
- 1934 Tsuki yori no shisha
- 1952 Ikiru as Tatsu Watanabe
- 1954 A Certain Woman as Tome
- 1931 Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
- 1945 Saigo no kikyō
- 1966 Four and A Half Mats as Riku
- 1952 Lightning as Osei
- 1951 Repast as Taniguchi Shige
- 1953 Brother and Sister as Riki - the Mother
- 1949 Ginza Cancan Girls
- 1953 Where Chimneys Are Seen as Kayo Nojima
- 1966 The Pretty Jade
- 1945 Who Is the Criminal?
- 1946 A Face Glowing at Night
- 1954 Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky as Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
- 1959 The Makioka Sisters
- 1950 A Mother's Love
- 1953 Bot-chan as Kiyo
- 1959 The Song of the Cart
- 1954 Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
- 1957 続二等兵物語 決戦体制の巻
- 1956 Training Ship of Yearning
- 1958 Stakeout as Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
- 1985 Lonely Heart as Fuki Inoue
- 1965 An Innocent Witch
- 1966 Moment of Terror as Hisako Kanematsu
- 1954 The Golden Demon as Tose
- 1962 Eriko as Oshima
- 1952 Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
- 1960 The Woman Who Touched Legs
- 1951 The Life of a Horse Trader as Onobu
- 1957 Elegy of the North as Grandma
- 1969 The Bad Guy Blues
- 1967 Two in the Shadow
- 1933 The Feast of Gion
- 1964 Jakoman and Tetsu as Taka
- 1961 Love's Family Tree
- 1949 Akireta musumetachi
- 1950 Portrait of Madame Yuki as San
- 1957 Snow Country
- 1973 Stray Dog
- 1955 Fantasy of Youth
- 1975 Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director as Self
- 1971 Adults Games
- 1931 And Yet They Go On
- 1971 The Secret Ceremony
- 1968 I Sell My Husband
- 1950 Snow-Flake
- 1961 Refresher Course for Wives
- 1959 Tokyo Omnibus
- 1957 Typhoon Over Nagasaki
- 1967 Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
- 1962 Nippon no obaachan as Waka
- 1952 母子鶴 as Onao
- 1952 A Ripple in a Morning
- 1966 Game of Chance as Sugi
- 1957 Young Lovers
- 1960 A Woman's Testament
- 1958 A Bridge for Two Alone
- 1943 The Tiger of Malaya as Tomi
- 1957 Tokyo Twilight as Komatsu's Mistress
- 1962 Night Mist Makes Women Cry as Yoshi Namikawa
- 1963 Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
- 1954 Twenty-Four Eyes as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
- 1965 The Passionate Spinster as Tokiko Tsurukawa
- 1949 The Rainbow Man as Kane Nonomura
- 1960 Tsukinode no ketto as Otani
- 1976 Tora-san's Pure Love
- 1933 The Water Magician as Ogin
- 1957 Itohan Monogatari as Okô
- 1956 Twice on a Certain Night
- 1955 A Woman's Life as Nobuko's mother
- 1955 A Man Among Men as Okimi
- 1960 Storm on the Silvery Peaks as Old woman
- 1964 Destroyer Yukikaze
- 1967 Flower Cards Chivalry
- 1967 Yanagase Blues as Kane Sasagawa
- 1948 Nocturnal Gate
- 1957 Fighting Letter for 29 People
- 1957 Inazuma Kaidō
- 1955 The Magistrate
- 1924 Seisaku no tsuma
- 1963 Teinen Taishoku
- 1956 Yaneura no Onna-tachi
- 1942 New Snow
- 1941 Passion to Soar
- 1956 Children Seeking a Mother as Older Woman
- 1959 Goodbye, Hello as Restaurant owner
- 1959 Diary of a Substitute Doctor
- 1958 Mother
- 1958 A Grain of Wheat
- 1965 Chained Bitch
- 1965 Color
- 1970 The Final Gamble
- 1960 White Cliffs
- 1984 The Cold-Hearted Sea
- 1955 The Refugee
- 1963 Uogashi no senpū musume
- 1958 Tokyo Eyes
- 1956 刑事部屋
- 1961 Love and the Shop Curtain
- 1954 Victory or Defeat
- 1958 Hibi no haishin
- 1939 Ie naki musume
- 1926 日輪 前篇
- 1960 Irohanihoheto
- 1969 River Of Love
- 1963 We Are Salarymen as Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
- 1958 Flower's Yearning as Muraki Sawa
- 1956 Dadakko Shachou
- 1958 Yurakucho 0 Street as Mother of A 16号
- 1958 The Cat Knew
- 1954 東京シンデレラ娘
- 1969 Season of Tears
- 1984 Lovely Days as Old lady
- 1952 Oka wa hanazakari
- 1956 Seishun no oto
- 1946 Iku-san ga
- 1946 瓢箪から出た駒
- 1985 Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki
- 1969 Twenty-One Concubines: The Life of a Pervert
- 1949 Hills of a Foreign Country as Iku
- 1956 Here It is Quiet
- 1957 Monkey Business as Yone
- 1955 Youth
- 1959 Blind Love
- 1959 Hear My Mother's Cry
- 1947 The 99th Bride
- 1960 The Legendary Hell as Osumi
- 1953 Hiren tsubaki
- 1947 The Little Green Box
- 1949 Koga Manshion
- 1943 Genghis Khan
- 1946 Machi no ninkisha
- 1946 Kare to kanojo wa iku
- 1946 Kimi ka to omohite
- 1946 Convent Bride
- 1946 The Monk Who Became a Raccoon Dog
- 1947 Female Prisoner #36
- 1947 First Love Story
- Soon Kakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
- 1956 Asashio yushio
- 1950 Shinju fujin: Shojo no maki
- 1950 Shinju fujin: Hitozuma no maki
- 1955 A Girl Who Delivers Happiness
- 1955 Troupers of Asakusa
- 1949 Kenji to onnakanshu
- 1949 Arashi no naka no shimai
- 1949 Three Mothers
- 1970 Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back
- 1949 Full Moon
- 1949 Hana no jitsugetsu
- 1949 Onna goroshi abura jigoku
- 1971 Kininaru Yomesan ( 2 episodes )
- 1974 White Runway ( 26 episodes )
