Hideko Takamine

Acting

Hideko Takamine

Born 1924-03-27 · Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan

Hideko Takamine (高峰 秀子, Takamine Hideko, March 27, 1924 – December 28, 2010) was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with Twenty-Four Eyes (1954) and Floating Clouds (1955) being among her most noted films. Takamine was born in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, in 1924. At the age of four, following the death of her mother, she was placed in the care of her aunt in Tokyo. Her first role was in the Shochiku studio's 1929 film Mother (Haha), which brought her tremendous popularity as a child actor. She toured as a singer to entertain Japanese troops and, after the war, sang for American occupation troops in Tokyo. In 1950, she left Shintoho and became a freelance actress. She was especially favoured as leading actress by Naruse, appearing in 17 of his films between 1941 and 1966, which are considered "some of her finest performances." She married writer-director Zenzo Matsuyama in 1955, but continued her acting career, stating that she wanted to "create a new style of wife who has a job". After retiring as an actress in 1979, she published her autobiography and several essay collections. She died of lung cancer on 28 December 2010 at the age of 86.

Acting credits

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer poster
8.4

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer

1961

The Tattered Wings poster
6.2

A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal when she's seen with her intense, no-nonsense childhood sweetheart.

The Tattered Wings

1955

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs poster
8.0

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960

Floating Clouds poster
7.7

A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.

Floating Clouds

1955

No artwork available
8.0

Japanese film based on the life of writer Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896).

Ichiyo Higuchi

1939

365 Nights poster
6.7

A young man rents an apartment in Tokyo and discover it was built by his father. He falls in love with the daughter of the mistress of the house and decides to marry her. Only to discover that his father is is in debt and wants him to marry Ranko so that she may help his company by granting 1.5 million yen. Teruko decides to borrow money from a greedy bar owner who lends her money on certain conditions and photographs her without her consent. A love traingle forms between Koroku, Ranko, and Teruko. Things complicate when Koroku marries Teruko and Tsugawa threatens them for the money causing many twists and turns.

365 Nights

1948

Twenty-Four Eyes poster
7.7

From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.

Twenty-Four Eyes

1954

Flowing poster
7.2

Otsuta is running the geisha house Tsuta in Tokyo. Her business is heavily in debt. Her daughter Katsuyo doesn't see any future in her mother's trade in the late days of geisha. But Otsuta will not give up. This film portrays the day time life of geisha when not entertaining customers.

Flowing

1956

The Rickshaw Man poster
7.2

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.

The Rickshaw Man

1958

The Other Woman poster
6.3

The real mother of the two children of a respectable university professor is not his wife, but his mistress, the hostess of a Ginza bar the family frequents.

The Other Woman

1961

Yearning poster
8.1

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment.

Yearning

1964

Devil's Temple poster
6.8

An abandoned temple in the mountains outside of the old capital city of Kyoto is the scene of a fated meeting between a traveling priest, two women, and a vicious killer. Bloody violence erupts whenever strangers approach the temple. Can the traveling priest bring his belief in the Buddha and rid the three temple residents of the devils that hold their souls?

Devil's Temple

1969

Oh, My Son! poster
6.1

A man whose son has been murdered pushes to create laws to financially protect victims' families.

Oh, My Son!

1979

Flirtation in Spring poster
10.0

Japanese adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's play "Marius", set in early XXth century Japan.

Flirtation in Spring

1949

Untamed Woman poster
7.5

A woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper, only to find herself subordinated to his drive for success, takes up with a tailor who cannot console himself with her strong personality.

Untamed Woman

1957

No artwork available
9.0

Story of a resourceful hobo (Kobayashi), a con woman (Takamine) who pretends to be a victim of the Nagasaki A-bomb, and two orphaned children who become a most atypical Japanese family.

My Hobo

1962

Sasaki Kojiro poster
6.0

Director Hiroshi Inagaki's early version of the life and death of famed swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. Otani Tomoemon gives a brilliant performance as Sasaki Kojiro, who rises from humble beginnings to national fame, and a young Toshiro Mifune appears as the legendary master swordsman Miyamoto Musashi for the first time and essentially sets the standard for future portrayals.This masterpiece is based on the original story as written by noted author Murakami Genzo and is far superior to any other versions. Following Kojiro from his earliest days through his fateful meeting with Musashi, this movie is filled with exciting and dramatic moments culminating in the best version of the final duel ever seen on film.

Sasaki Kojiro

1951

The New Road: Ryota poster
7.5

The eldest daughter of a noble family is in love with an aviator while being courted by a fellow aristocrat she thinks is a dullard. Told from the perspective of Ryota. In this second part, we learn that Akemi is pregnant...

The New Road: Ryota

1936

Daughters, Wives and a Mother poster
7.3

Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family.

Daughters, Wives and a Mother

1960

Moment of Terror poster
5.9

When the only son of a working class woman is fatally struck by a car driven by the adulterous wife of a company president in a hit-and-run, the victim's mother changes her identity and infiltrates the couple's home to work as their maid, plotting to murder their similarly-aged son.

Moment of Terror

1966

Schoolgirl Records poster
10.0

A "slice-of life" film about a group of high school girls in 1940s Japan.

Schoolgirl Records

1941

The Second Kiss poster
NR

As an orphan, Yamauchi Fumiko was taken in by the politician Kawabe Sotaro and raised by him. Perhaps because of their similar circumstances, she fell in love with Murakawa Sadao, a young man who had also been cared for by Kawabe after losing his father. Standing in the way of their romance is Kawabe’s only daughter Kyoko. She was in love with Murakawa, and Kawabe had even given his consent to their marriage. Through Kyoko’s scheming, Fumiko was forced into a blind date with Miyata, a senior executive at Murakawa’s company.

The Second Kiss

1954

The Munekata Sisters poster
7.1

Setsuko is in an unhappy marriage to Mimura, an unemployed, alcoholic engineer. She had always been in love with Hiroshi but both failed to propose when Hiroshi left for France a few years ago. But now he's back and Mariko tries to reunite them, although she too is secretly in love with Hiroshi.

The Munekata Sisters

1950

Ballad of a Workman poster
6.1

A demobilized soldier becomes a day laborer with a road construction gang, and his wife goes to work to bolster their income. Their modest dream is to see their son grow and to be happy as a family.

Ballad of a Workman

1962

Behind the camera