Biography

Haruko Sugimura (杉村 春子 Sugimura Haruko, January 6, 1909 – April 4, 1997) was a Japanese stage and film actress, best known for her appearances in the movies of Yasujiro Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. In the West, her most famous role was that of Shige, the elderly couple's hairdresser daughter in Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953). After the war, she was highly praised by such masters as Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Shiro Toyoda, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Tadashi Imai for her natural and realistic acting. In particular, she was a regular in Yasujiro Ozu's films, appearing in nine of his films.

Known For

The Spell of the Hidden Gold

Sonoe

Tokyo Story

Shige Kaneko

Children Hand in Hand

Runway to Hell

Okuma

Kwaidan

Madame (segment "In a Cup of Tea")

The Woman Who Touched Legs

Pickpocket Haruko

An Inlet of Muddy Water

The Strange Tale of Oyuki

Kafu's Mother