Kinuyo Tanaka

Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan. Her first credited film appearance was in 1924 in "A Maid of the Genroku Era" in 1924, which also marked the start of her affiliation with the Shochiku Studios. She married director Hiroshi Shimizu in 1929 after appearing in a number of his films in the 1920s. Although they divorced after less than a year, she later played in a number of films directed by her ex-husband.[1]

She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing in Yasujirō Ozu's I Graduated, But... in 1929. The following year she played the lead in Aiyoku no ki, and in 1931 she appeared in Japan's first talkie, The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, directed by Heinosuke Gosho. In the 1930s, she became so popular that the titles of her films used her name, as in "The Kinuyo Story" (Kinuyo Monogatari) in 1930, "Doctor Kinuyo" (Joi Kinuyo sensei) in 1937 and "Kinuyo’s First Love" (Kinuyo no hatsukoi) in 1940. In 1938, she starred in Hiromasa Nomura’s Flower in Storm (愛染かつら Aizen-Katsura) with Ken Uehara, which was the highest-grossing movie of the prewar period.[1] In 1940, she worked for the first time with Kenji Mizoguchi, starring in "A Woman of Osaka" (Naniwa Onna), which has not survived. It marked the start of her transition to more challenging roles.

Tanaka made a three-month trip to the United States starting in October 1949 as one of Japan’s first post-war cultural envoys [1] On her return, she resigned from Shochiku, and announced her intention of going freelance, which would give her more scope to choose which directors she wished to work with. She worked on several movies with Mikio Naruse, Yasujirō Ozu, and also Keisuke Kinoshita (including The Ballad Of Narayama for which she was awarded the Best Actress Award from the magazine Kinema Junpo).[1] She had a close working relationship with director Kenji Mizoguchi, having parts in 15 of his films, including leading roles in The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho the Bailiff (1954). Their working relationship ended when Mizoguchi countered a recommendation from the Directors Guild of Japan for the Nikkatsu studio to hire her as a director. Despite this, the production of her second film as director went ahead, but Tanaka never forgave Mizoguchi, and the reasons for his behaviour are unclear.[2]

Tanaka was the second Japanese woman who worked as a film director, after Sakane Tazuko (1904‐1975). Her first directing job was on the film Love Letter in 1953, scripted by Kinoshita, was entered as a contestant in the Cannes Film Festival in 1954. She directed five further films between 1953 and 1962. The "Moon Has Risen" (Tsuki wa noborinu) in 1955 was scripted by Yasujirō Ozu and the "Wandering Princess" (Ruten no onna) starring Machiko Kyō, was scripted by Natto Wada.[1] However, as well as directing, Tanaka continued with her acting career, appearing as Yasumoto's mother in Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard (1965). For her performance as an aged prostitute in Kei Kumai's Sandakan N° 8 she won the Best Actress Award at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival in 1975.[3] During the 1960s, she moved increasingly towards television.

Tanaka died of a brain tumor on 21 March 1977.

She has appeared in more than 259 films[4] (incomplete)

• 1953: Love Letter (恋文 Koibumi)
• 1955: Tsuki wa noborinu (月は上りぬ)
• 1955: The Eternal Breasts (乳房よ永遠なれ Chibusa yo eien nare)
• 1960: The Wandering Princess (流転の王妃 Ruten no Ouhi)
• 1961: Girls of the Night　(女ばかりの夜 Onna bakari no yoru)
• 1962: Love Under the Crucifix (お吟さま Ogin sama)