Kumeko Urabe
Acting • Born 1902-10-05 – Died 1989-10-26
Biography
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
183 credits
Early Spring
Movie • 1956
Shige Kitagawa
Hachiko
Movie • 1987
Tobacco Shop Owner
Scarred Yosaburo
Movie • 1960
Nocturnal Lights
Movie • 1966
The Salaryman's Carefree Life: What a Relaxed Job This Is!
Movie • 1962
Haru no sanmyaku
Movie • 1962
Teppo Yasu no Shogai
Movie • 1962
Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue
Movie • 1927
Otoku
Street of Shame
Movie • 1956
Otane
湖愁
Movie • 1962
Victory and Defeat
Movie • 1960
Sato
Wedding March
Movie • 1951
Auntie
Kono ni uruwashi
Movie • 1962
Duel in the Sun
Movie • 1950
Boarding house landlady
Oogonju
Movie • 1950
Connie Sonobe's mother
The Song Lantern
Movie • 1960
Bridge of Japan
Movie • 1956
Floating Weeds
Movie • 1959
Shige
Irresponsible Rascal of Japan
Movie • 1962
Dupe
Movie • 1965
Koina no Ginpei
Movie • 1954
The 26 Martyrs of Japan
Movie • 1931
Ohisa, Mother of Antonio
Women of the Night
Movie • 1948
Brothel Keeper
Aru yo no seppun
Movie • 1946
Takako
Women Doing Time
Movie • 1966
Night Scandal
Movie • 1964
Shino
Girl in College
Movie • 1969
The Broken Commandment
Movie • 1962
Owner of the hotel
Yearning
Movie • 1964
Bar Madam
She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum
Movie • 1955
Grandmother
The Wild Geese
Movie • 1953
Otsune
The Body
Movie • 1962
Ah, My Hometown
Movie • 1938
Before Spring
Movie • 1980
Toyo
Being Two Isn't Easy
Movie • 1962
Ino
The Straits of Love and Hate
Movie • 1937
Ume
Hibari no komoriuta
Movie • 1951
Kyū-chan ondo
Movie • 1962
Moken no himitsu
Movie • 1924
18 Roughs
Movie • 1963
Gin Ishii
The Story of Shunkin
Movie • 1954
Secret Club 000
Movie • 1965
Shi no machi wo nogarete
Movie • 1952
When a Woman Loves
Movie • 1960
Otome
Sound in the Mist
Movie • 1956
Mistress of a Foreigner
Movie • 1930
Omatsu
The Man From Chungking
Movie • 1943
妻とよ
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
Movie • 1947
Osumi and Her Mother
Movie • 1924
Gakusei geisha koi to kenka
Movie • 1962
母山彦
Movie • 1952
Tomorrow I'll Be a Fire-Tree
Movie • 1955
Tomi
The Precipice
Movie • 1958
Confronting Fear
Movie • 1958
俺は死なない
Movie • 1956
Onna Ikitemasu: Sakariba Wataridori
Movie • 1972
Tsue
喜劇 右向けェ左！
Movie • 1970
An Heir's Place
Movie • 1953
House of Many Pleasures
Movie • 1955
Masa
Parakin to Kyū-chan mōshiwakenai yarō-tachi
Movie • 1962
Tsuki yori no shisha
Movie • 1934
Ikiru
Movie • 1952
Tatsu Watanabe
A Certain Woman
Movie • 1954
Tome
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
Movie • 1931
Saigo no kikyō
Movie • 1945
Four and A Half Mats
Movie • 1966
Riku
Repast
Movie • 1951
Taniguchi Shige
Lightning
Movie • 1952
Osei
Brother and Sister
Movie • 1953
Riki - the Mother
Ginza Cancan Girls
Movie • 1949
Where Chimneys Are Seen
Movie • 1953
Kayo Nojima
The Pretty Jade
Movie • 1966
Who Is the Criminal?
Movie • 1945
A Face Glowing at Night
Movie • 1946
Somewhere Beneath the Wide Sky
Movie • 1954
Shige, Ryoichi's stepmother
The Makioka Sisters
Movie • 1959
A Mother's Love
Movie • 1950
Bot-chan
Movie • 1953
Kiyo
The Song of the Cart
Movie • 1959
Submarine Ro Hasn't Surfaced
Movie • 1954
続二等兵物語 決戦体制の巻
Movie • 1957
Training Ship of Yearning
Movie • 1956
Stakeout
Movie • 1958
Proprietress of the Hotel Hizen-ya
Lonely Heart
Movie • 1985
Fuki Inoue
An Innocent Witch
Movie • 1965
Moment of Terror
Movie • 1966
Hisako Kanematsu
The Golden Demon
Movie • 1954
Tose
Eriko
Movie • 1962
Oshima
Kanpai! Tokyo Musume
Movie • 1952
The Woman Who Touched Legs
Movie • 1960
The Life of a Horse Trader
Movie • 1951
Onobu
Elegy of the North
Movie • 1957
Grandma
The Bad Guy Blues
Movie • 1969
Two in the Shadow
Movie • 1967
The Feast of Gion
Movie • 1933
Jakoman and Tetsu
Movie • 1964
Taka
Love's Family Tree
Movie • 1961
Akireta musumetachi
Movie • 1949
Portrait of Madame Yuki
Movie • 1950
San
Snow Country
Movie • 1957
Stray Dog
Movie • 1973
Fantasy of Youth
Movie • 1955
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
Movie • 1975
Self
Adults Games
Movie • 1971
And Yet They Go On
Movie • 1931
The Secret Ceremony
Movie • 1971
I Sell My Husband
Movie • 1968
Snow-Flake
Movie • 1950
Refresher Course for Wives
Movie • 1961
Tokyo Omnibus
Movie • 1959
Typhoon Over Nagasaki
Movie • 1957
Eyes, the Sea and a Ball
Movie • 1967
Nippon no obaachan
Movie • 1962
Waka
母子鶴
Movie • 1952
Onao
A Ripple in a Morning
Movie • 1952
Game of Chance
Movie • 1966
Sugi
Young Lovers
Movie • 1957
A Woman's Testament
Movie • 1960
A Bridge for Two Alone
Movie • 1958
The Tiger of Malaya
Movie • 1943
Tomi
Tokyo Twilight
Movie • 1957
Komatsu's Mistress
Night Mist Makes Women Cry
Movie • 1962
Yoshi Namikawa
Ghost Story of Devil's Fire Swamp
Movie • 1963
Twenty-Four Eyes
Movie • 1954
Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
The Passionate Spinster
Movie • 1965
Tokiko Tsurukawa
The Rainbow Man
Movie • 1949
Kane Nonomura
Tsukinode no ketto
Movie • 1960
Otani
Tora-san's Pure Love
Movie • 1976
The Water Magician
Movie • 1933
Ogin
Itohan Monogatari
Movie • 1957
Okô
Gateway to Glory
Movie • 1969
Twice on a Certain Night
Movie • 1956
A Woman's Life
Movie • 1955
Nobuko's mother
A Man Among Men
Movie • 1955
Okimi
Storm on the Silvery Peaks
Movie • 1960
Old woman
Destroyer Yukikaze
Movie • 1964
Flower Cards Chivalry
Movie • 1967
Yanagase Blues
Movie • 1967
Kane Sasagawa
Nocturnal Gate
Movie • 1948
Inazuma Kaidō
Movie • 1957
Fighting Letter for 29 People
Movie • 1957
The Magistrate
Movie • 1955
Seisaku no tsuma
Movie • 1924
Teinen Taishoku
Movie • 1963
Yaneura no Onna-tachi
Movie • 1956
New Snow
Movie • 1942
Passion to Soar
Movie • 1941
Children Seeking a Mother
Movie • 1956
Goodbye, Hello
Movie • 1959
Restaurant owner
Diary of a Substitute Doctor
Movie • 1959
Mother
Movie • 1958
A Grain of Wheat
Movie • 1958
Chained Bitch
Movie • 1965
Color
Movie • 1965
The Final Gamble
Movie • 1970
White Cliffs
Movie • 1960
The Cold-Hearted Sea
Movie • 1984
The Refugee
Movie • 1955
Uogashi no senpū musume
Movie • 1963
Tokyo Eyes
Movie • 1958
刑事部屋
Movie • 1956
Love and the Shop Curtain
Movie • 1961
Victory or Defeat
Movie • 1954
Hibi no haishin
Movie • 1958
Ie naki musume
Movie • 1939
日輪 前篇
Movie • 1926
Irohanihoheto
Movie • 1960
Koi no otome kawa
Movie • 1969
We Are Salarymen
Movie • 1963
Shizuko Komuro (Eiichiro’s Mother)
Flower's Yearning
Movie • 1958
Muraki Sawa
Dadakko Shachou
Movie • 1956
Yurakucho 0 Street
Movie • 1958
Mother of A 16号
The Cat Knew
Movie • 1958
東京シンデレラ娘
Movie • 1954
Season of Tears
Movie • 1969
Lovely Days
Movie • 1984
Old lady
Oka wa hanazakari
Movie • 1952
Seishun no oto
Movie • 1956
Iku-san ga
Movie • 1946
瓢箪から出た駒
Movie • 1946
Checkers in Tan Tan tanuki
Movie • 1984
Kininaru Yomesan
TV • 1971
White Runway
TV • 1974