Yōko Minamida
Acting • Born 1933-03-01 – Died 2009-10-21
Biography
Yōko Minamida (南田 洋子, Minamida Yōko, March 1, 1933 – October 21, 2009) was a Japanese actress. Born in Tokyo, Minamida made her screen debut in 1953 for the Daiei studio and quickly rose to stardom, working with Kenji Mizoguchi on two films: “A Story from Chikamatsu” and “Princess Yang Kwei-fei.” In 1955, she moved to the Nikkatsu studio, where she starred in Takumi Furukawa’s “Season of the Sun” (1956), a smash hit that launched the so-called “Sun Tribe” boom for films about rebellious youth looking for sex and kicks on Shonan Beach — Japan’s nearest equivalent to Malibu. Minamida acted in dozens of movies for Nikkatsu, working with Shohei Imamura, Seijun Suzuki, and other directors. In 1961 she married her co-star on “Season of the Sun,” Hiroyuki Nagato. As she acted in fewer movies after the mid-1960s, Minamida made a smooth and successful transition to TV as both an actress and MC. She also continued to appear occasionally in movies, with the last being Nobuhiko Obayashi’s “Song of Goodbye” in 2006. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in November 2008, and a TV documentary was made about her condition and the efforts of her husband to care for her. She died in Tokyo.
Filmography
115 credits
Pigs and Battleships
Movie • 1961
Katsuyo
A Modern Samurai Village
Movie • 1963
Yasu Tajima
Tale of the Last Japanese Yakuza
Movie • 1969
Otoko to otoko no ikiru machi
Movie • 1962
Chikamatsu Monogatari
Movie • 1954
Otama
Zoku jūdai no seiten
Movie • 1953
Akiko Yasutomi
Black Dice
Movie • 1962
Okashina yatsu
Movie • 1963
Fujiko, Shuntô
Salaryman Senka
Movie • 1995
A Young Man's Stronghold
Movie • 1970
Princess Yang Kwei-fei
Movie • 1955
Hung-tao
A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era
Movie • 1957
Koharu
Ankoku gai jingi
Movie • 1965
Bet on a Seaside Romance
Movie • 1960
Sun and Stars
Movie • 1962
He Killed Dad
Movie • 1961
Streetlights
Movie • 1957
早川千鶴子
Last Round
Movie • 1962
The Soundless Cry
Movie • 1965
Tokie Matsuura
Yellow Fangs
Movie • 1990
Kiyo
The Wild Daisy
Movie • 1977
Fuki - Masao's Mother
Season of the Sun
Movie • 1956
Eiko Takeda
The Crimson Plains
Movie • 1961
Sakie Yazaki
Yuganda tsuki
Movie • 1959
Namiko Eda
The Doctor
Movie • 1955
The Kingdom of Jirocho 4
Movie • 1965
Jūdai no seiten
Movie • 1953
Return of the Vagabond
Movie • 1960
The Guys Who Put Money on Me
Movie • 1962
Sanae Kitazawa
The Rambler Rides Again
Movie • 1960
Voice Without a Shadow
Movie • 1958
Asako Kotani
Love Comes with Youth
Movie • 1963
Chivalrous Pride
Movie • 1969
Wind and waves of the South
Movie • 1961
Yasuko, Kazuo's foster mother
I Have the Sun in My Back
Movie • 1963
Sachiko
The Happy Dancers
Movie • 1956
Michiko Morishita
Our Town
Movie • 1956
Otsuru / Kimie
An Outlaw
Movie • 1964
The Motherless
Movie • 1955
Tomiko
Tonari no yome
Movie • 1956
Time of First Love
Movie • 1975
Beyond the Green Hills
Movie • 1963
Umetaro
Glorious Fights
Movie • 1966
Akemi
The Barefoot Girl
Movie • 1957
The Poem of the Blue Star
Movie • 1960
This Story of Love
Movie • 1987
Glass-Hearted Johnny
Movie • 1962
Yumi
Jakoman and Tetsu
Movie • 1964
Masa
Tokyo Knights
Movie • 1961
Koji's Mother
The Domain
Movie • 1964
Ame no meguri ai
Movie • 1977
The Kanto Scarlet Cherry Gang
Movie • 1972
Maid
Portrait of Chieko
Movie • 1967
Kazuko Tsubaki
House
Movie • 1977
Hausu Karei
The Champion
Movie • 1957
Natsuko Miyagawa
The Man with a Shotgun
Movie • 1961
Harue
Kyu-chan, Draw Your Sword
Movie • 1963
A Turning to Hell
Movie • 1959
Takako
Stolen Desire
Movie • 1958
Chidori Yamamura
At Noon
Movie • 1978
Quick Draw Joe
Movie • 1961
Jane, the dancer
But the Flesh is Weak
Movie • 1957
Hungry Soul
Movie • 1956
Reiko Shiba
The Domain: Kanto Legends of Chivalry
Movie • 1965
Farewell to Southern Tosa
Movie • 1959
Jungle Block
Movie • 1960
Kayoko Komuro
Dancing Sisters
Movie • 1957
Karafuto 1945 Summer
Movie • 1974
Song of Goodbye
Movie • 2007
Kyoko Tanabe
Hungry Soul, Part II
Movie • 1956
Reiko Shiba
The Gambling Monk
Movie • 1963
The Rambler Returns Home
Movie • 1962
Showdown of Men
Movie • 1966
Zero
Movie • 1984
Ine Hamada
The Domain: The Naniwa Story
Movie • 1965
A Girl Isn't Allowed to Love
Movie • 1955
Prison Gambler
Movie • 1964
Kimura Uta
Gambler
Movie • 1964
Kimura Uta
The Law's Bloody Wounds
Movie • 1960
榎本吟子
Jūdai no yūwaku
Movie • 1953
The Tattooed Lord
Movie • 1965
Wounded Beast
Movie • 1959
Umi wa kurutte iru
Movie • 1959
Osaka no kaze
Movie • 1958
When a Man Risks His Life
Movie • 1959
Taiyō o buchi otose
Movie • 1958
Joe of Aces: Gambling for a Living
Movie • 1961
Yuri Harada
Lone Wolf
Movie • 1960
Naomi
Zoku zoku Jûdai no seiten
Movie • 1953
Gun of Nosappu
Movie • 1961
To Your Majesty, The Emperor 2
Movie • 1964
Misato
The Motive
Movie • 2004
Kinue Ishida
Take Me Away!
Movie • 1978
Tomi Oguchi
The Domain: Where The Blade Enters
Movie • 1967
The Domain: White Blade
Movie • 1967
Tales of a Gunman: The Man Without Tomorrow
Movie • 1960
Sumi
Elegy to Youth
Movie • 1959
Mountain Pass
Movie • 1957
The Awakening
Movie • 1957
Kamen no Onna
Movie • 1959
We Live Today
Movie • 1959
Japanese Humanity and Justice
Movie • 1977
Kiriko's Tango
Movie • 1963
Zurari oretacha yōjinbō
Movie • 1961
Aishū no sono
Movie • 1957
A Daughter's Life Guide
Movie • 1955
田部三津子
Ai yo, Nemuranaide
Movie • 1993
Himitsu
Movie • 1952
Tears of a Swan
TV • 1989
Atsuko Kawata
Yôi don
TV • 1982
栄市の母・せい
Niji
TV • 1970
三谷かな子
Lost Paradise
TV • 1997
Eto Kuniko
Akai Shougeki
TV • 1976
砂山の唄殺人事件
TV • 1990
Gokusen
TV • 2002
Matsubara