Kumeko Urabe
Actor
Born October 5, 1902 in Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
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.
Filmography
Hachiko
Tobacco Shop Owner
Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki
Lonely Heart
Fuki Inoue
The Cold-Hearted Sea
Lovely Days
Old lady
Before Spring
Toyo
Tora-san's Pure Love
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
Self
White Runway
Stray Dog
Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba Wataridori
Tsue
Kininaru Yomesan
The Secret Ceremony
Adults Games
喜劇 右向けェ左！
The Final Gamble
The Bad Guy Blues
Girl in College
Season of Tears
Twenty-One Concubines: The Life of a Pervert
River Of Love
I Sell My Husband
Two in the Shadow
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
Yanagase Blues
Kane Sasagawa
Flower Cards Chivalry
Game of Chance
Sugi
The Pretty Jade
Nocturnal Lights
Moment of Terror
Hisako Kanematsu
Women Doing Time
Four and A Half Mats
Riku
Secret Club 000
The Passionate Spinster
Tokiko Tsurukawa
An Innocent Witch
Chained Bitch
Dupe
Color
Night Scandal
Shino
Destroyer Yukikaze
Jakoman and Tetsu
Taka
Yearning
Bar Madam
We Are Salarymen
Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
18 Roughs
Gin Ishii
Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
Uogashi no senpū musume
Teinen Taishoku
Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
Being Two Isn't Easy
Ino
The Body
Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
Kyū-chan ondo
The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
The Broken Commandment
Owner of the hotel
Kono ni uruwashi
Koshū
Teppo Yasu no Shogai
Haru no sanmyaku
Nippon no obaachan
Waka
Love's Family Tree
Love and the Shop Curtain
The Legendary Hell
Osumi
Tsukinode no ketto
Otani
The Woman Who Touched Legs
Scarred Yosaburo
Irohanihoheto
The Song Lantern
Storm on the Silvery Peaks
Old woman
Victory and Defeat
Sato
White Cliffs
A Woman's Testament
When a Woman Loves
Otome
Floating Weeds
Shige
Tokyo Omnibus
Hear My Mother's Cry
Blind Love
Diary of a Substitute Doctor
The Song of the Cart
The Makioka Sisters
Goodbye, Hello
Restaurant owner
Yurakucho 0 Street
Mother of A 16号
A Grain of Wheat
Flower's Yearning
Muraki Sawa
Confronting Fear
The Cat Knew
The Precipice
A Bridge for Two Alone
Mother
Hibi no haishin
Stakeout
Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
Tokyo Eyes
Inazuma Kaidō
Monkey Business
Yone
Elegy of the North
Grandma
Fighting Letter for 29 People
Snow Country
Tokyo Twilight
Komatsu's Mistress
Typhoon Over Nagasaki
Itohan Monogatari
Okô
Young Lovers
Sound in the Mist
Here It is Quiet
Training Ship of Yearning
Bridge of Japan
俺は死なない
Children Seeking a Mother
Older Woman
Seishun no oto
Twice on a Certain Night
Yaneura no Onna-tachi
刑事部屋
Street of Shame
Otane
Dadakko Shachou
Early Spring
Shige Kitagawa
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Grandmother
Youth
Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
Tomi
House of Many Pleasures
Masa
The Refugee
Fantasy of Youth
The Magistrate
A Woman's Life
Nobuko's mother
A Man Among Men
Okimi
Victory or Defeat
Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky
Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
Twenty-Four Eyes
Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
The Story of Shunkin
東京シンデレラ娘
The Golden Demon
Tose
A Certain Woman
Tome
Koina no Ginpei
The Wild Geese
Otsune
Brother and Sister
Riki - the Mother
Bot-chan
Kiyo
An Heir's Place
Hiren tsubaki
Where Chimneys Are Seen
Kayo Nojima
Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
Oka wa hanazakari
Ikiru
Tatsu Watanabe
Lightning
Osei
母子鶴
Onao
Shi no machi wo nogarete
A Ripple in a Morning
母山彦
Wedding March
Auntie
The Life of a Horse Trader
Onobu
Repast
Taniguchi Shige
Hibari no komoriuta
Portrait of Madame Yuki
San
Snow-Flake
Duel in the Sun
Boarding house landlady
Koga Manshion
Akireta musumetachi
Ginza Cancan Girls
The Rainbow Man
Kane Nonomura
Hills of a Foreign Country
Iku
Women of the Night
Brothel Keeper
The Little Green Box
The 99th Bride
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
The Monk Who Became a Raccoon Dog
Convent Bride
A Face Glowing at Night
Aru yo no seppun
Takako
Who Is the Criminal?
Saigo no kikyō
The Man From Chungking
妻とよ
The Tiger of Malaya
Tomi
Genghis Khan
New Snow
The Straits of Love and Hate
Ume
Tsuki yori no shisha
The Feast of Gion
The Water Magician
Ogin
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
The 26 Martyrs of Japan
Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
And Yet They Go On
Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue
Otoku