Haruko Sugimura


Haruko Sugimura was a Japanese stage and film actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.

Biography

Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. After the death of her parents, she was adopted at an early age by affluent lumber dealers, only learning much later that they were not her biological parents. Her adoptive parents took her to performances of both classical Japanese stage arts like kabuki and bunraku, and western ballet and opera. They also encouraged her to enroll at the Tokyo Ongaku Gakko, where she failed the exams. She then joined the Tsukiji Shōgekijō, Tokyo, in 1927, and later the Bungakuza theatre company, which she remained affiliated with from 1937 until her retirement in 1996.
She gave her film debut in 1932 in Eizo Tanaka's Namiko. Between 1937 and the end of the war, she acted in about 20 films, including works by directors Yasujirō Shimazu and Shirō Toyoda. Notable post-war film appearances were in Keisuke Kinoshita's Morning for the Osone Family and in Ozu's Late Spring. Her most important film roles included that of Shige, the elderly couple's hairdresser daughter in Ozu's Tokyo Story, Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums, and Tadashi Imai's An Inlet of Muddy Water. For her film performances, she received the Blue Ribbon Award, the Kinema Junpo Award and the Mainichi Film Award.
On stage, she was successful as Blanche Dubois in A [Streetcar Named Desire], as Gertrude in Hamlet and as Asako Kageyama in Yukio Mishima's Rokumeikan. Her most popular and often repeated stage role was Kei Nunobiki in Kaoru Morimoto's A Woman's Life, for which she received numerous awards, including the Japan Art Academy Prize and the Asahi Prize. In 1992, she was awarded the honorary citizenship of the city of Tokyo. In 1995, she refused the Order of Cultural Merit award. The same year saw the release of her last film, Kaneto Shindō's A Last Note.

Filmography

Film

Namiko Asakusa no hi Uguisu Wedding Day Okumura Ioko Spring on Leper's Island – Yokogawa's wifeŌhinata-mura Waga ai no ki Shirasagi Jirō monogatari Nankai no hanataba – Nobuko HottaHaha no chizu – Isano KishiGekiryu Army – SetsuKanjōkai no bara Umi no yobu koe Ōsone-ke no ashita – Fusako ŌsoneUrashima Tarō no kōei No Regrets for Our Youth – Madame Noge, Ryukichi's motherYottsu no koi no monogatari – Yukiko's mother Joen Haru no mezame Sanbon yubi no otoko – ItokoYuwaku – TokieTe o tsunagu kora Idainaru X – TakaToki no teizo: zengohen Kurogumo kaido Koku'un kaido Beni imada kiezu Yotsuya kaidan – OmakiShinshaku Yotsuya kaidan: kōhen – OmakiLate Spring – Masa TaguchiOnna no shiki Until We Meet Again – Ono SugaListen to the Voices of the Sea – Kohagi NakamuraEriko to tomoni Part I + II – Harue MatsumuraJiyū gakkō Early Summer – Tami YabeFireworks Over the Sea – Kono KujiraiRepast – Matsu Murata, Michiyo's motherInochi uruwashi – Mine ImuraSeishun kaigi – TamiyoGenroku suikoden – OnuiKaze futatabi Kin no tamago: Golden girl – Tsuruko FujimuraWakai hito Senba zuru – Chikako KurimotoMontenrupa: Bokyo no uta Kimi ni sasageshi inochi nariseba Tokyo Story – Shige KanekoLife of a Woman – Tamae, Shintaro's motherAn Inlet of Muddy Water – O-Hatsu Geisha Konatsu – Raku KamiokaLate Chrysanthemums – KinShunkin monogatari – OeiKunsho Meiji ichidai onna – OhideKeisatsu Nikki – Moyo Sugita, a go-betweenPrincess Yang Kwei-Fei – Princess Yen-chunGeisha Konatsu: Hitori neru yo no Konatsu – Raku KamiokaShe Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum – Masao's motherAogashima no kodomotachi – Onna kyōshi no kiroku – Chie YamadaEarly Spring – Tamako TamuraYonjū-hassai no teikō – Satoko, Kotaro's wifeNagareru – SomekaOnna no ashi ato The Crowded Streetcar – Otome, the motherTokyo Twilight – Shigeko TakeuchiKanashimi wa onna dakeni – ChiyokoHana no bojō – Rie IkegamiSummer Clouds – ToyoNemuri Kyōshirō burai hikae: Maken jigoku – SonoeGood Morning – Kikue HaraguchiBibō ni tsumi ari – Fusa YoshinoAnyakōro – OsaiKashimanada no onna The Three Treasures – NarratorFloating Weeds – OyoshiTenpō rokkasen – Jigoku no hanamichi – OkumaMusume tsuma haha – Kayo TaniDaughters, Wives and a Mother – Kayo TaniAshi ni sawatta onna – Pickpocket HarukoFuryu fukagawata Banana Kutsukake Tokijirō – OrokuThe End of Summer – Katou ShigeBuddha – VaidehiHangyakuji Katei no jijō – Mrs. YoshiiOnna no za – Aki, Ishikawa-ke no gosaiAshita aru kagiri Musume to watashi – Kiyo KitagawaThe Outcast – School master's wifeAn Autumn Afternoon – TomokoKaigun Mother – YoshieThe Scent of Incense – TaromaruAkujo – Hatsu MimuraKwaidan – Madame Samurai Assassin – TsuruWith Beauty and Sorrow – Otoko's motherRed Beard – Kin, the madamDaikon to ninjin Dark the Mountain Snow – Ine's motherJinchoge – Aki Ueno, DaphneHanaoka Seishū no tsuma – NarratorHitorikko Kaseki no mori Akumyo: shima arashi – ItoKaseki – Mother-in-lawBokuto kidan – Kafu's motherA Last Note – Yoko Morimoto

Television (selected)

Sekigahara - Kita no mandokoro

Awards (selected)