Nobuko Otowa

Nobuko Otowa (乙羽 信子, Otowa Nobuko, 1 October 1924 – 22 December 1994) was a Japanese actress who appeared in over 100 films between 1950 and 1994.

Nobuko Otowa
乙羽 信子
Nobuko Otowa in Children of Hiroshima (1952)
Born	Nobuko Kaji[1] (1924-10-01)1 October 1924 Yonago, Tottori, Japan
Died	22 December 1994(1994-12-22) (aged 70)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–1994
Spouse(s)	Kaneto Shindo (1977–1994, her death)

A graduate of Takarazuka Girl's Opera School, Otowa was first signed to Daiei studios, before becoming a freelance actress by the early 1950s.[2][3] After starring in Kaneto Shindo's Story of a Beloved Wife, she became the director's mistress and appeared in all of his following films until 1994. She finally married him in 1977, after his previous wife divorced him.[4] Although closely associated with Shindo's films, with Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island and Onibaba being among the most well-known, Otowa also worked for noted directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Heinosuke Gosho, Keisuke Kinoshita and Nagisa Ōshima. Devoted to her profession, she frequently wrote and lectured on the art of film acting.[2]

In 1995, she was posthumously awarded as best actress in a supporting role at the 19th Japan Academy Prize for A Last Note, having been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer during its production.[5][6] Half of her ashes are scattered on the island of Sukune in Mihara, Hiroshima, where The Naked Island was filmed.[7]