Kumeko Urabe
Known for: Acting
Kumeko Urabe (Japanese: 浦辺粂子), born Kimura Kume ((木村 くめ)), (October 5, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was a Japanese movie actress, one of the first in the country. She worked on stage and in film and television. Urabe was born in a rural part of the Shizuoka Prefecture. She lived in several homes while growing up, as she relocated with her father, a Buddhist priest, among the temples to which he was assigned. Urabe completed her education in Numazu, and left school in 1919 to join a theatre company, touring under various stage names as an actor and dancer. In 1923, Urabe auditioned at the film studio Nikkatsu, and adopted the name Kumeko Urabe, by which she was known for the rest of her life. She appeared in her first film the following year, and continued to act until 1987. She worked with such directors as Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse, and performed in over 320 films, including Ikiru, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Portrait of Madame Yuki, She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, and Street of Shame. She also starred in television dramas, including thirteen episodes of Toshiba Sunday Theatre between 1958 and 1980. In the following decade, she carved a niche as a Grandma idol, until her death in 1989.
Filmography
Film
Ikiru
Tatsu Watanabe
1952
Film
Hachiko
Tobacco Shop Owner
1987
Film
Tokyo Elegy
1951
Film
Yobiko hoshi
1952
Film
Tokyo Twilight
Komatsu's Mistress
1957
Film
Twenty-Four Eyes
Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
1954
Film
Floating Weeds
Shige
1959
Film
Haha yamahiko
1952
Film
Hahakozuru
Onao
1952
Film
Machi no kotengu
1952
Film
Dorei no machi
1951
Film
Portrait of Madame Yuki
San
1950
Film
Early Spring
Shige Kitagawa
1956
Film
Dokuja-tō kidan: Joōbachi
1952
Film
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
Self
1975
Film
Girl in College
1969
Film
Street of Shame
Otane
1956
Film
Young Lovers
1957
Film
Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki
1985
Film
Color
1965
Film
Jakoman and Tetsu
Taka
1964
Film
Love's Family Tree
1961
Film
Yearning
Bar Madam
1964
Film
An Heir's Place
1953
Film
Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
1963
Film
Nocturnal Lights
1966
Film
When a Woman Loves
Otome
1960
Film
Stakeout
Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
1958
Film
Secret Club 000
1965
Film
An Innocent Witch
1965
Film
The Woman Who Touched Legs
1960
Film
Mabuta no haha
1952
Shimai hoshi
1950
Film
Nocturnal Gate
1948
Film
Typhoon Over Nagasaki
1957
Film
Dupe
1965
Film
Tsuki yori no shisha
1934
Film
Scarred Yosaburo
1960
Film
Lonely Heart
Fuki Inoue
1985
Film
Brother and Sister
Riki - the Mother
1953
Osumi and Her Mother
1924
Ah, My Hometown
1938
Film
Two in the Shadow
1967
Film
Game of Chance
Sugi
1966
Film
Repast
Taniguchi Shige
1951
Film
Genghis Khan
1943
Film
Sound of Youth
1956
Film
The Little Green Box
1947
Film
Lightning
Osei
1952
Film
Troupers of Asakusa
1955
Film
Convent Bride
1946
Film
Kyū-chan ondo
1962
Film
Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky
Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
1954
Film
Arashi no naka no shimai
1949
Film
Tokyo Omnibus
1959
Film
The Broken Commandment
Owner of the hotel
1962
Film
東京シンデレラ娘
1954
Film
Shinju fujin: Hitozuma no maki
1950
Film
Moment of Terror
Hisako Kanematsu
1966
Film
Being Two Isn't Easy
Ino
1962
Film
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Grandmother
1955
Film
A Girl Who Delivers Happiness
1955
Film
Women of the Night
Brothel Keeper
1948
Film
Forever My Love
1952
Film
Snow Country
1957
Film
A Grain of Wheat
1958
Film
The Body
1962
Film
Flower Cards Chivalry
1967
Female Prisoner #36
1947
Film
Koi no Oranda-zaka
1951
Film
A Woman's Testament
1960
Film
Tora-san's Pure Love
1976
Film
Yurakucho 0 Street
Mother of A 16号
1958
Film
Shinju fujin: Shojo no maki
1950
Film
Night Scandal
Shino
1964
Kare to kanojo wa iku
1946
Film
Twice on a Certain Night
1956
瓢箪から出た駒
1946
Film
Three Mothers
1949
Film
Oka wa hanazakari
1952
Film
Inazuma Kaidō
1957
Film
Stray Dog
1973
Film
Koshū
1962
Film
The Golden Demon
Tose
1954
Film
The Makioka Sisters
1959
Film
Youth
1955
Film
Bridge of Japan
1956
Film
Hills of a Foreign Country
Iku
1949
Film
Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba Wataridori
Tsue
1972
Film
The Straits of Love and Hate
Ume
1937
Film
Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
1962
Film
Destroyer Yukikaze
1964
Full Moon
1949
Film
刑事部屋
1956
Film
The Wild Geese
Otsune
1953
Tsuma mo koisu
1950
Night Mist Makes Women Cry
Yoshi Namikawa
1962
Film
Four and A Half Mats
Riku
1966
Film
Irohanihoheto
1960
Film
The Precipice
1958
Film
Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
1962
Series
Kininaru Yomesan
1971
Film
A Certain Woman
Tome
1954
Film
Ginza Cancan Girls
1949
Film
The Song Lantern
1960
Film
Where Chimneys Are Seen
Kayo Nojima
1953
Film
The Water Magician
Ogin
1933
Film
Elegy of the North
Grandma
1957
Film
Mother
1958
Film
Flower's Yearning
Muraki Sawa
1958
Film
A Bridge for Two Alone
1958
Fire Department
1951
Hana no jitsugetsu
1949
Film
The Rainbow Man
Kane Nonomura
1949
Golden Beast
Connie Sonobe's mother
1950
Film
The Cat Knew
1958
Film
The Final Gamble
1970
Film
Hear My Mother's Cry
1959
Film
Tokyo Eyes
1958
Film
Women Doing Time
1966
Film
The Refugee
1955
Film
Kenji to onnakanshu
1949
Film
Asashio yushio
1956
Mistress of a Foreigner
Omatsu
1930
Film
Happiness For You — Sentimental Boy
1967
Kimi ka to omohite
1946
Film
The 99th Bride
1947
Film
Here It is Quiet
1956
Film
Fantasy of Youth
1955
Iku-san ga
1946
Film
Teppo Yasu no Shogai
1962
Film
Twenty-One Concubines: The Life of a Pervert
1969
Film
Tsukinode no ketto
Otani
1960
Series
White Runway
1974
Film
The Spoiled Brat President
1956
Film
Haru no sanmyaku
1962
Film
Sound in the Mist
1956
Film
18 Roughs
Gin Ishii
1963
Film
Bot-chan
Kiyo
1953
Film
The Song of the Cart
1959
Film
Snow-Flake
1950
Film
Hiren tsubaki
1953
Machi no ninkisha
1946
Film
Fighting Letter for 29 People
1957
Film
Escape from the City of Death
1952
Film
Wicked Priest 4: The Killer Priest Comes Back
1970
Seisaku no tsuma
1924
Film
Uogashi no senpū musume
1963
Film
The Story of Shunkin
1954
Film
Koina no Ginpei
1954
Film
Chained Bitch
1965
First Love Story
1947
Film
Love and the Shop Curtain
1961
Film
New Snow
1942
Film
A Ripple in a Morning
1952
Film
I Sell My Husband
1968
Film
Storm on the Silvery Peaks
Old woman
1960
Film
Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
1954
Film
Duel in the Sun
Boarding house landlady
1950
Film
Yaneura no Onna-tachi
1956
Film
Refresher Course for Wives
1961
Onna goroshi abura jigoku
1949
Film
The Legendary Hell
Osumi
1960
Film
Hibari no komoriuta
1951
Film
Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
Tomi
1955
Film
Hibi no haishin
1958
Film
Diary of a Substitute Doctor
1959
A Mother's Love
1950
Film
The Monk Who Became a Raccoon Dog
1946
Film
The Man From Chungking
妻とよ
1943
Film
Before Spring
Toyo
1980
Film
Koga Manshion
1949
Film
The Bad Guy Blues
1969
Film
Victory or Defeat
1954
Film
Itohan Monogatari
Okô
1957
Film
The Cold-Hearted Sea
1984
Film
Monkey Business
Yone
1957
Film
Kono ni uruwashi
1962
Kakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
Ie naki musume
1939
Film
Season of Tears
1969
Passion to Soar
1941
Film
Lovely Days
Old lady
1984
Film
Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue
Otoku
1927
Film
Saigo no kikyō
1945
Film
Yanagase Blues
Kane Sasagawa
1967
Film
Training Ship of Yearning
1956
Film
Blind Love
1959
Film
Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
1962
Film
A Face Glowing at Night
1946
Film
Adults Games
1971
Film
We Are Salarymen
Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
1963
Film
A Woman's Life
Nobuko's mother
1955
続二等兵物語 決戦体制の巻
1957
Film
The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
1962
Film
Confronting Fear
1958
Film
Goodbye, Hello
Restaurant owner
1959
Film
Teinen Taishoku
1963
Film
White Cliffs
1960
Eriko
Oshima
1962
Film
Victory and Defeat
Sato
1960
Film
Wedding March
Auntie
1951
Film
The 26 Martyrs of Japan
Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
1931
Film
The Pretty Jade
1966
Film
The Life of a Horse Trader
Onobu
1951
Film
喜劇 右向けェ左！
1970
Film
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
1967
Film
The Tiger of Malaya
Tomi
1943
Film
A Man Among Men
Okimi
1955
Film
House of Many Pleasures
Masa
1955
Moken no himitsu
1924
Film
River Of Love
1969
Film
Nippon no obaachan
Waka
1962
日輪 前篇
1926
Film
The Secret Ceremony
1971
Film
Aru yo no seppun
Takako
1946
Film
Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
1952
Film
The Passionate Spinster
Tokiko Tsurukawa
1965
Film
俺は死なない
1956
Film
Akireta musumetachi
1949
Film
Who Is the Criminal?
1945
Film
And Yet They Go On
1931
Film
The Feast of Gion
1933
Film
Children Seeking a Mother
Older Woman
1956
Film
The Magistrate
1955
Film
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
1947
Kettō gofun mae
1953
Film
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
1931
Ganpā kachō
1961