
Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
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.


as Tatsu Watanabe
1952

as Tobacco Shop Owner
1987

1965

as San
1950

as Bar Madam
1964

as Shige
1959

1965

1967

as Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
1954

as Fuki Inoue
1985

as Komatsu's Mistress
1957

as Self
1975
as Fuki Inoue
1985

as Tobacco Shop Owner
1987

1985

as Fuki Inoue
1985

1984

as Old lady
1984

as Toyo
1980

1976

as Self
1975

1973

as Tsue
1972

1971

1971

1970

1970

1969

1969

1969

1969

1969

1968

1967

1967

as Kane Sasagawa
1967

1967
26 episodes