Japanese movie icon Setsuko Hara dies in Kamakura aged 95
Legendary actress Setsuko Hara, who starred in Tokyo Story and other films by Yasujiro Ozu and other prominent Japanese directors, died of pneumonia on Sept 5 at a hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture, her family said on Wednesday. She was 95.
Hara had been hospitalised since mid-August and her death was not immediately made public in observance of her wishes, according to a close relative. A funeral service was held in private, the relative said.
With a career spanning from her 1935 debut to an abrupt withdrawal from the industry in 1962, Hara achieved fame as the heroine of golden-era Japanese movies in the postwar period.
She starred in six films by Ozu, including Tokyo Story (1953) and Late Spring (1949), as well as in The Green Mountains directed by Tadashi Imai (1949), El Idiota by Akira Kurosawa (1951) and Repast by Mikio Naruse (1951) among more than 70 credits.
Born Masae Aida on June 17, 1920, in Yokohama, Hara left high school and became an actress, encouraged by her brother-in-law, the director Hisatora Kumagai. She landed her first role in 1935 and garnered popularity in her early work for passionate portrayals of tragic figures and for a distinctive look that set her apart from other Japanese actresses.
Hara’s most career-defining work came in her postwar collaborations with Ozu, starting in 1949. She became known for her roles with Ozu and in other films for playing modest women characterised by strong traditional bonds to family, but also embodied the spirit of postwar Japanese modernity while playing independent and forward-looking heroines.
Ozu, who praised her performances for their inner depth, was a major presence in Hara’s career, and her sudden retirement from acting at age 42 came a year after their final collaboration near the end of the director’s life.
She did not attend Ozu’s funeral in 1963 and steadfastly refused offers to consider new roles or make public appearances, living instead in de facto seclusion for decades in Kamakura, near Tokyo.
A 75-year-old nephew who had been living with Hara said that the actress’ last moments were peaceful.