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Machiko Kyō

 
Actor: Machiko Kyo
  • Born: Mar 25, 1924 in Osaka, Japan
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'60s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Ugetsu Monogatari, Rashomon, The Face of Another
  • First Major Screen Credit: Rashomon (1951)

Biography

Brought to films in 1949 on the strength of her beauty and dancing skills, Machiko Kyo unexpectedly proved to be an actress of unusual power and intensity. Only 18 years old when she burst onto the international film scene as the humiliated wife in Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1953), she followed this triumph with such roles as the ghostly Lady Wakara in Kurosawa's Ugetsu (1954) and the much-desired Lady Kesa in Teinosuke Kinusaga's Gate of Hell (1954). In 1955, she essayed the title role in Princess Yang Kwei Fei, one of her several collaborations with director Kenji Mizoguchi. Her English-language film debut came in 1956, when she was cast opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford in the Okinawa-based Teahouse of the August Moon. Retiring from films in 1976, Machiko Kyo made one last screen appearance in 1985's Kesho. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Machiko Kyō

Machiko Kyō in the film Rashomon (1950)
Born March 25, 1924 (1924-03-25) (age 85)
Osaka, Honshū, Japan

Machiko Kyō (京 マチ子 Kyō Machiko?) (born March 25, 1924 in Osaka) is a Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She rose to extraordinary domestic praise in Japan for her work in two of the greatest Japanese films of the 20th century, Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu.

Machiko trained to be a dancer before entering films in 1949. The following year, she would achieve international fame as the female lead in Akira Kurosawa's classic film Rashōmon. She went on to star in many more Japanese productions, most notably Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953) and Kon Ichikawa's Odd Obsession (1959).

Her only role in a non-Japanese film was as Lotus Blossom, a young geisha, in The Teahouse of the August Moon, starring opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford.

Now in her eighties, Kyō continues to perform in traditional Japanese theatrical productions put on by famed producer Fukuko Ishii. Kyō was nominated for a Golden Globe for The Teahouse of the August Moon, a great feat for an Asian actress at the time, and has been awarded many prizes, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Awards of the Japanese Academy.

Filmography

Machiko Kyō at Japanese movie poster of The Hole (穴 Ana) 1957 film.

The filmography of Machiko Kyō includes 97 films:[1]

References

  1. ^ (Japanese) http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/person/p0084410.htm accessed 21 May 2009.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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