Acting

Tanie Kitabayashi

Born May 21, 1911 · Tokyo, Japan

Died April 27, 2010 · aged 98

Tanie Kitabayashi (北林谷栄, Kitabayashi Tanie, May 21, 1911 – April 27, 2010) was a Japanese actress and voice actress. Born Reiko Ando in Tokyo, she began as a stage actress. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying older women. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed Mingei Theatre, founded in 1950. In 1960, she won best actress awards at the 10th Blue Ribbon Awards and at t…

Known For

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro · 1988

My Neighbor Totoro

MovieFantasyAnimation

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Proof of the Man

Proof of the Man · 1977

Proof of the Man

MovieDramaCrime

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

White Snake Enchantment

White Snake Enchantment · 1983

White Snake Enchantment

Uta married a priest who saved her when she tried to commit suicide at a waterfall. The love triangle between a lustful priest, his second wife and his son Masao.

The Insect Woman

The Insect Woman · 1963

The Insect Woman

A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.

Station

Station · 1981

MovieDramaThriller

A detective goes out of his way to crack the case of a serial killer who specialises in murdering police officers.

Rainbow Kids

Rainbow Kids · 1991

MovieDramaComedy

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.

The Burmese Harp

The Burmese Harp · 1956

The Burmese Harp

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

Amagi Pass

Amagi Pass · 1983

MovieCrimeFantasy

Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.

Filmography

Sort

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro · 1988

My Neighbor Totoro

MovieFantasyAnimation

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

Granny (voice)

Proof of the Man

Proof of the Man · 1977

Proof of the Man

MovieDramaCrime

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime.

White Snake Enchantment

White Snake Enchantment · 1983

White Snake Enchantment

Uta married a priest who saved her when she tried to commit suicide at a waterfall. The love triangle between a lustful priest, his second wife and his son Masao.

Tane

The Insect Woman

The Insect Woman · 1963

The Insect Woman

A woman, Tome, is born to a lower class family in Japan in 1918. The title refers to an insect, repeating its mistakes, as in an infinite circle. Imamura, with this metaphor, introduces the life of Tome, who keeps trying to change her poor life.

Madam

Station

Station · 1981

MovieDramaThriller

A detective goes out of his way to crack the case of a serial killer who specialises in murdering police officers.

Masayo Mikami

Rainbow Kids

Rainbow Kids · 1991

MovieDramaComedy

A wealthy matriarch is kidnapped by a gang of three. She is insulted by the amount of money they propose to demand as ransom, and a strange interchange of roles takes place.

Mrs. Toshiko 'Toji' Yanagawa

The Burmese Harp

The Burmese Harp · 1956

The Burmese Harp

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

Amagi Pass

Amagi Pass · 1983

MovieCrimeFantasy

Japan in the 1940s. A high school boy went into a magic encounter with Ozuka Hana, a geisha (pub-girl) when he traveled through Amagi Pass. A mysterious murder took place afterwards, an Ozuka was held responsible. 40 years later, the boy, who became a printing shop owner, was visited by a retired policeman who came from Amagi Pass. The truth then started to reveal itself.

Tea house's old woman

Odd Obsession

Odd Obsession · 1959

MovieDramaComedy

A middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the introduction of his daughter's lover to his wife.

Hana

Stakeout

Stakeout · 1958

MovieCrimeDrama

Two detectives begin a stakeout based on the slim chance of catching a murderer whom they suspect will try to reunite with an old flame.

My Second Brother

My Second Brother · 1959

My Second Brother

The film tells the story of four orphans living in an impoverished mining town. An adaptation of a best-selling book based on the diary of a ten-year-old zainichi (ethnic Korean Japanese) girl, it was one of the first films to deal with the subject of zainichi identity and struggles in Japan.

The Sun's Burial

The Sun's Burial · 1960

The Sun's Burial

MovieDramaCrime

In Osaka's slum, capricious folks without futures engage in pilfering, assault and robbery, prostitution, and the trading of ID cards and blood.

Chika

Wrath of Daimajin

Wrath of Daimajin · 1966

Wrath of Daimajin

MovieFantasyHorror

In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.

Old Woman Kane

Never Give Up

Never Give Up · 1978

MovieDramaAction

Special forces officer Ajisawa leaves his paramilitary group to take care of his newly-adopted daughter, Yoriko: the sole survival of a bloodbath for which he is responsible. Years later, Ajisawa is forced to return to the scene of the tragedy for his new job as a claims adjuster where he is subsequently arrested for his suspected involvement. But the threat of jail time is the least of his worries as his former organization comes gunning for him.

Kiyo Matsushita

Twilight of the Cockroaches

Twilight of the Cockroaches · 1987

Twilight of the Cockroaches

MovieFantasyDrama

The cockroaches of Saito's apartment live in peace with their human host, who gives them lots of space to breed and plenty of leftovers to munch on. In the midst of these high living times, Naomi and Ichiro plan to get married and start a family. But when a hard-bitten stranger roach named Hans appears with news of war with the humans across the lawn, it foretells disruption-not only of Naomi and Ichiro's relationship, but of the hive's entire way of life.

Torah (voice)

Intentions of Murder

Intentions of Murder · 1964

Intentions of Murder

The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life.

Kinu Takahashi

The Human Bullet

The Human Bullet · 1968

The Human Bullet

MovieComedyDrama

A soldier has been in the Japanese military for the entirety of WWII, and in that time, his dedication to the army has never faltered. However, as the war draws to a close, his commanding officers become increasingly desperate and push their men to ever more absurd extremes. The ridiculousness of the orders from above peak when the hero of the story is assigned to drive a one-man submarine straight into the hull of an enemy battleship.

Bookstore Owner's Wife

River Without a Bridge Part 2

River Without a Bridge Part 2 · 1970

River Without a Bridge Part 2

Second part to "River Without a Bridge" (1969)

Bonchi

MovieComedyDrama

Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give them an heiress for the family business, he stands by helplessly as his wife is thrown out of the house for producing a son. Driven to a life of dissipation - his mistresses also fail to produce daughters - in the end he is just too tired to care.

Love: Starting on a Journey

Love: Starting on a Journey · 1985

Love: Starting on a Journey

MovieFantasyMystery

A girl suffering from an incurable disease get in a coma, while her boyfriend visit her to the hospital, she visits the beyond.

Only on Mondays

Only on Mondays · 1964

Only on Mondays

Yuka is a “good-time girl” from Yokohama who is persuaded by her papa to sleep with a foreign business executive so that he can close an important deal. Nakahira presents a shrewdly observed portrait of a modern, sexually assertive woman—an unsettling character for a changing but still patriarchal society.

Yuka's mother

Before Dawn

Before Dawn · 1953

Ofuki

Blind Devotion

Blind Devotion · 1961

MovieRomanceDrama

Late romance by acclaimed filmmaker Kinugasa Teinosuke.

Saoko

Scandal

Scandal · 1950

A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.

Yasu Hiruta

Mayuko hitori

Mayuko hitori · 1971

Kano is known as a "cocoon child" whose father is an agriculturist. Her mother disappeared when she was little and since then Kano has been wondering why her mother left her thus changing the shape of her life.

加野のぶ

おくさまは18歳

おくさまは18歳 · 1970

おくさまは18歳

SeriesComedyDrama

Asuka's grandmother