Tanaka Kinuyo, a highly acclaimed and prolific actress, is best known for her extensive collaborations with the renowned director Mizoguchi Kenji. Her remarkable career in the world of film began at the tender age of fourteen, and she went on to become a prominent figure in the industry.
As a filmmaker herself, Tanaka was also related to other influential directors, including Kobayashi Masaki, who was her cousin. Her personal life was also marked by romantic connections, with rumors of an affair with Mizoguchi, similar to those surrounding Hara Setsuko and Ozu Yasujiro.
Despite her close relationship with Mizoguchi, the director later advised against her becoming a director herself, which led to a rift between the two. Tanaka's first known credit was in the 1924 film Genroku Onna, and she went on to become Shochiku's most prominent actress, as well as a symbol of beauty, until around 1949.
During this time, she traveled to the United States as an ambassador of Japanese culture, but upon her return, the Japanese noticed a change in her attitude and a new hairstyle, which led to some criticism. Tanaka had been married twice, first to director Shimizu Hiroshi in 1929, with whom she worked on several projects, although sources claim the marriage was more of a cohabitation.
Her second marriage was to Gosho Heinosuke, with whom she also worked, and she appeared in several films by Ozu Yasujiro. Despite her popularity in films like Aizen Katsu and Naniwa Onna, her post-war films, including Life Of Oharu, Sansho The Bailiff, and Ugetsu, are considered some of the greatest classics in Japanese cinema and cemented her status as a legend.
Tanaka's impressive career also included the direction of several films and a collaboration with Kurosawa Akira in Red Beard. She passed away in 1977 due to a brain tumor, leaving behind a legacy as one of Japan's most beloved and enduring actresses.
