Isuzu Yamada

Isuzu Yamada

1917-02-05

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​

Also appears in

Yojimbo

Yojimbo

8.1

Throne of Blood

Throne of Blood

7.9

The Lower Depths

The Lower Depths

7.1

Suspicion

Suspicion

6.7

Tokyo Twilight

Tokyo Twilight

7.7

Woman Boss

Woman Boss

Not yet rated

Sisters of the Gion

Sisters of the Gion

7.2

Black River

Black River

6.9

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

7.5

Shogun’s Samurai

Shogun’s Samurai

7.1

Flowing

Flowing

7.1

Farewell to Dream

Farewell to Dream

6.9

大当り男一代

大当り男一代

Not yet rated

Minamoto Yoshitsune

Minamoto Yoshitsune

Not yet rated

Osaka Elegy

Osaka Elegy

6.7

The Lovelorn Geisha

The Lovelorn Geisha

6.6

Deep River Melody

Deep River Melody

6.0

A Billionaire

A Billionaire

5.7

Shozo, a Cat and Two Women

Shozo, a Cat and Two Women

6.7

The Day Before

The Day Before

Not yet rated