Isuzu Yamada 山田 五十鈴 Yamada Isuzu 5 February 1917 9 July 2012 was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades Yamada was born in Osaka as Mitsu Yamada the daughter of Kusudu Yamada a shinpa actor specialising in onnagata roles and Ritsu a geisha Yamada debuted as a film actress in 1930 at age twelve appearing in the Nikkatsu film Tsurugi wo koete She soon became one of Nikkatsus top actresses but it was her portrayals of strongwilled modern girls in Kenji Mizoguchis Osaka Elegy and Sisters of the Gion in 1936 at the new Daiichi Eiga studio that earned her popularity and critical acclaim Moving to Shinkō Kinema and then to Toho she became a star with Mikio Naruses Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro 1938 During the second half of the 1950s Yamadas main attention shifted towards the stage but she still appeared in a number of distinguished films like Naruses Flowing 1956 Yasujirō Ozus Tokyo Twilight 1957 and Akira Kurosawas The Lower Depths 1957 and Throne of Blood 1957 Other directors she worked with during this decade include Keisuke Kinoshita Kaneto Shindō and Shirō Toyoda In addition to her theatre engagements she appeared on television including the longrunning Hissatsu series Her last TV appearance was in 2002 Yamada died from multiple organ failure in Tokyo on 9 July 2012 at the age of 95 She was married four times to actor Ichirō Tsukita to producer Kazuo Takimura to actor Yoshi Katō and to actor Tsutomu Shimomoto Her daughter with Tsukita Michiko became known as the actress Michiko Saga 19351992 Description above from the Wikipedia article Isuzu Yamada licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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