Isuzu Yamada
Acting
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
Born: February 5, 1917
Place of Birth: Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Known For
Filmography
as Self
as Oriku
as Tokie Horiuchi
as Tatsu
as Otowa
as Oeyo
as Joban
as Riku
as Dowager Empress
as Taka Hirooka
as Tatsuko Katagiri
as Kalideva
as Yashio (voice)
as Orin
as Yodogami
as Sei
as Otake
as Kisaragi
as Shigeyo (Mother)
as Urako
as Natsu, the Foster Mother
as Riyo Yazawa
as Landlady
as Osugi the Landlady
as Kisako Soma
as Lady Asaji Washizu
as Otsuta
as Shinako
as Seiji's mother, Kiyo
as 江戸紫女将そよ
as お吉
as 妻みね
as 母つじ
as Yaeko (segment 3)
as Some Kaita
as Mother
as Hanakuma
as Oishi Riku
as Mineh Obah
as Tamiko
as Sayo Yamada
as 女房おなか
as Somehachi
as Harue Yasukawa
as Okane, Chobei's wife
as Kaoru Uozumi
as Namiko, Kosaku's wife
as Otsuya
as Misawa
as Oharu
as Masako
as お夏
as Sumako Matsui
as Sasae Onoda
as Isuzu Yamada
as O-Sode
as Oshino
as Oshiho
as Osaki
as Koina
as Tsuruhachi
as Senhime
as O-mocha
as Ayako Murai
as Oyuki
as Okichi
as Osen
as Otose