Tokuko Sugiyama

Acting

Tokuko Sugiyama

Born 1926-08-16 · Tokyo, Japan

Tokuko Sugiyama (杉山 とく子), also known by her birth name and former stage name Tokuko Sugiyama (杉山 徳子), was a Japanese actress born on August 16, 1926, in Tokyo. She is renowned for her notable roles in the film "The Town with a View of the Capsule" (キューポラのある街) and the TV dramas "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" (男はつらいよ) and "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari Series" (渡る世間は鬼ばかりシリーズ). After completing her education at Jissen Women's Academy Second High School, Sugiyama initially worked as a nursery school teacher and in Chiba Newspaper's advertising department. Her journey into the entertainment industry began when she applied to Toho's New Face audition and later joined the Bungakuza theater company in 1946. Following two years of training, she became a part of the Haiyūza theater company in 1948 and marked her stage debut with "Tooku e no Hitsuji Goya" (遠くへの羊飼い) the same year. Sugiyama's film debut occurred in 1949 with "Shiratori wa Kanashikarazu ya" (白鳥は悲しからずや). She played significant supporting roles throughout her career. Notably, in the TV drama "Otoko wa Tsurai yo," she portrayed Tora-san's sister, Tsune, and featured in various roles in the film series. From 1990 onward, she portrayed Hanako Noda, the mother-in-law of the main character, in the TV drama "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari." Even at the age of 66 in 1992, she continued her acting career from a nursing home in Saitama Prefecture. Sugiyama retired from the entertainment industry in 2005, with her final appearance in the 7th series of "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari." She passed away on August 28, 2014, at the age of 88 due to liver cancer. Throughout her career, Sugiyama often collaborated with Kunio Yamazaki, Aiko Nagayama, and Akiko Matsuda. She was a recurring cast member in films directed by Yoji Yamada. (Translated from Wikipedia Japan "杉山とく子")

Acting credits

A Taxing Woman poster
6.7

Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.

A Taxing Woman

1987

Village of Dreams poster
6.0

Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.

Village of Dreams

1996

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love poster
8.1

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

1959

The Village poster
7.4

This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and, being that they are farmers and always busy and not rich, question the wisdom and feasibility of such an idea. A spokesperson for the acting troupe Ms. Kono lays out the whole thing and they must decide. You get little slices of rural life in Japan far, at least in sentiment, from Tokyo. The best thing about this film is that it has heart. The acting is good, but it is really about the simple storyline of outing on a show. Films rarely get made with such simplistic plots these days. Enjoy this little slice of what city people call “the simple life”.

The Village

1975

Horus: Prince of the Sun poster
6.4

Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series of adventures.

Horus: Prince of the Sun

1968

Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies poster
6.6

Director Ogata discovers a new female star in Koharu Tanaka, who works selling candy at a studio theater and she is given a part as a bit player. After the studio's top leading lady is embroiled in a scandal, Koharu is suddenly thrust into the limelight when she replaces her in a film and gains instant fame and fortune. But the going is not always easy, and she soon seeks help from unexpected quarters.

Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies

1986

The Wild Swans poster
6.3

A young girl must spend six years making sweatshirts out of poison ivy in order to save her six brothers which have been turned into swans by an evil sorceress.

The Wild Swans

1977

Police Precinct: Landfill No. 19 poster
NR

In the former landfill, where construction is currently underway, the corpse of a middle-aged man with an unusual rosary in his hand was dug up. An autopsy showed that the victim was about 40 years old, 170 cm tall, had bad teeth, and had been strangled about a month ago. The police department begins an investigation, Detectives Hayashi and Kitagawa set out to investigate the origin of the rosary, and Detectives Nagata and Watanabe begin interviewing construction workers. In the end, it turns out that the rosary belongs to some new religion... The 19th work from the series "Keishicho Monogatari".

Police Precinct: Landfill No. 19

1962

Metamorphosis poster
5.1

A sensuous movie based on a literary work. Hitomi Kuroki stars as the film’s heroine.

Metamorphosis

1986

Twelve Months poster
6.9

A young queen requests a bouquet of snowdrop flowers for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward. One greedy woman sends her stepdaughter, whom she does not like, to look for the flowers in a cold forest, knowing the task will be impossible for her. The girl almost freezes to death in the forest, but she is rescued by the spirits of the Twelve Months, who create spring around her. The girl is able to deliver the bouquet to the queen, but others want a share of the reward.

Twelve Months

1980

A Distant Cry from Spring poster
7.4

The quiet life of a mother and her young son living on a farm in Hokkaido is changed by the arrival of a man who ignites flames of romance in the heart of the mother and shows her boy the importance of grit and kindness, but then he leaves with the autumn wind.

A Distant Cry from Spring

1980

The Empty Table poster
6.9

One year after the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths, all the other perpetrators' parents have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobuyuki Kidoji remains adamant that he is not responsible for his son's actions.

The Empty Table

1985

Bungakusho Satsujin Jiken: Oinaru Jyoso poster
9.0

A young doujinshi writer doesn't win the literary prize award, and ends up killing the selection committee.

Bungakusho Satsujin Jiken: Oinaru Jyoso

1989

Tora-san's Promise poster
8.7

Tora-san returns to his family's home to attend an elementary school class reunion. After he embarrasses himself by getting drunk and insulting all his ex-classmates, he resumes his travels. In Kyushu he meets an outspoken 18-year-old girl who becomes enamored of Tora-san and follows him around. One of Tora-san's old friends is terminally ill and makes Tora-san promise him to marry his wife once he is gone.

Tora-san's Promise

1981

Tales of a Golden Geisha poster
6.2

Nayoko, a good-hearted geisha, brings luck to the men she sleeps with, even though most are scoundrels who don’t deserve it.

Tales of a Golden Geisha

1990

Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san poster
8.0

During his travels, Tora-san gets drunk with an old man in Kyoto. Though Tora-san never fully comprehends his importance, the old man is a Living National Treasure ceramist. At his home, Tora-san makes a good impression on the old man's maid, who apparently falls in love with Tora-san.

Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san

1982

Tora-san's Runaway poster
7.9

After an encounter with a dying yakuza's son and at his sister Sakura's urging, Torajiro attempts to change his vagrant lifestyle and become an honest worker with a steady job.

Tora-san's Runaway

1970

Foster Daddy, Tora! poster
8.0

After a friend and business colleague dies, Tora-san visits the man's daughter, then takes her to Tokyo so she can study for a night school exam.

Foster Daddy, Tora!

1980

Foundry Town poster
7.8

Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education.

Foundry Town

1962

Tora-san, the Go-Between poster
6.9

In Nagasaki, Tora-san and an acquaintance help an old woman who has fallen and injured herself. She invites them to her home where the three share a night of eating and drinking. The old woman's health deteriorates and she dies. At her funeral, Tora-san falls in love with the old woman's daughter, but winds up acting as a go-between for her and a young law student.

Tora-san, the Go-Between

1985

Center of Tokyo poster
NR

Set in the downtown area in the heart of Tokyo, this film depicts the lives of poor but kind-hearted people.

Center of Tokyo

1974

Kobayashi Takiji poster
8.0

A tribute to proletarian author Takiji Kobayashi (1903-1933)

Kobayashi Takiji

1974

Mofuku no niau hitozuma futari poster
NR

Yuki Kimura, a company president's secretary, agrees to marry his son Yutaka on the president's recommendation. When Yutaka breaks up with his lover, a hostess, she implies she's going to commit suicide. In a panic to get to her quickly, Yutaka punches a man at a taxi stand. The next day, when Yutaka's lover hears the news about a man dying and realizes it was the man Yutaka punched, she demands money...

Mofuku no niau hitozuma futari

1986

Police Precinct: Nothing Left at the Scene poster
7.0

A man who uses marriage as bait goes from woman to woman, and then a horrific murder is committed for money. Seven police man chase the vicious criminal who disappeared into the vortex of the big city.

Police Precinct: Nothing Left at the Scene

1959