Dedications: My four late friends Rory, Stan, Bryan, Jeff - shine on you crazy diamonds, they would have blogged too. Then theres Garry from Brisbane, Franco in Milan, Mike now in S.F. / my '60s-'80s gang: Ned & Joseph in Ireland; in England: Frank, Des, Guy, Clive, Joe & Joe, Ian, Ivan, Nick, David, Les, Stewart, the 3 Michaels / Catriona, Sally, Monica, Jean, Ella, Anne, Candie / and now: Daryl in N.Y., Jerry, John, Colin, Martin and Donal.

Thursday 26 November 2015

RIP, continued

Setsuko Hara (1920-2015), aged 95. Another veteran actress, also aged 95 and named Hara has passed away - it was Maureen O'Hara recently and now we hear that Japanese actress Setsuko Hara died in September, though it has only been announced now. She was of course the muse of director Yazijiro Ozu, starring in several of his classics, most notably as Noriko in a trilogy, the most well-known and revered being the great TOKYO STORY in 1953, also LATE SPRING and EARLY SUMMER.  She clocked up a total of 77 credits, but never married and  lived quietly in her later years - she gave up acting in 1966 but was one of Japan's best-loved stars during her 30 year career. 

Her main roles saw her as the dutiful daughter looking after aged parents and she became known as The Eternal Virgin. She did six films with Ozu, and also worked with Kurosawa and Naruse. Anyone who has seen TOKYO STORY will know who wonderful she was and how she quietly commands the screen - I will be re-watching it again soon before too long. 

No comments:

Post a Comment