Chieko Nakakita


Chieko Nakakita was a Japanese actress. She appeared in the early films of Akira Kurosawa and later starred in many films by Mikio Naruse.

Biography

After graduating from Tokyo Film School, Chieko Nakakita entered the Toho film studios and gave her debut in Yasujirō Shimazu's Nichijō no tatakai. Her first film with Kurosawa was Those Who Make Tomorrow, which he co-directed but disowned. Later films with Kurosawa include One Wonderful Sunday, Drunken Angel and The Quiet Duel. During the 1948 strike at Toho, Nakakita, like actresses Yoshiko Kuga and Setsuko Wakayama, sided with the unionists.
Her first film with Naruse was the 1950 White Beast, followed by regular supporting roles in the director's most important films, such as Repast, Lightning, for which she received the Blue Ribbon Award and the Mainichi Film Concours, Floating Clouds and Flowing. Other directors Nakakita worked with include Yasujirō Ozu, Shirō Toyoda and Masaki Kobayashi. After 1970, she turned completely to television work, except for her final film, the 1983 Tora-san's Song of Love.

Personal life

Nakakita was married to Toho film producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, who was sixteen years her senior. Together they had three sons and adopted a daughter named Mieko.
She died in her Tokyo home in 2005, 79 years old.

Filmography (selected)

Awards

Chieko Nakakita received the 1952 Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress for Lightning and Oka wa hanazakari and the 1952 Mainichi Film Concours For Best Supporting Actress for Lightning, Mother and Oka wa hanazakari.