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Machiko Kyō

Acting

Biography

Machiko Kyō (Japanese: 京マチ子 Hepburn: Kyō Machiko, March 25, 1924 – May 12, 2019) was a Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She rose to extraordinary domestic praise in Japan for her work in two of the greatest Japanese films of the 20th century, Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu.

Machiko trained to be a dancer before entering films in 1949. The following year, she would achieve international fame as the female lead in Akira Kurosawa's classic film Rashōmon. Kyō starred in many more Japanese productions, including Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953) and Street of Shame (1956), Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell (1953), Kon Ichikawa's Odd Obsession (1959), Yasujirō Ozu's Floating Weeds (1959), and Hiroshi Teshigahara's The Face of Another (1966).

Her only role in a non-Japanese film was as Lotus Blossom, a young geisha, in The Teahouse of the August Moon, starring opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford.

In her eighties, Kyō continued to perform in traditional Japanese theatrical productions put on by famed producer Fukuko Ishii. Her final role was as Matsuura Shino in the NHK television drama series Haregi Koko Ichiban in 2000. Kyō was nominated for a Golden Globe for The Teahouse of the August Moon, a great feat for an Asian actress at the time, and was awarded many prizes, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Awards of the Japanese Academy.

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Machiko Kyō

Biography

Films Featuring Machiko Kyō

Rashomon

Musume no boken

A Geisha on Horseback

The Face of Another

Street of Shame

The Teahouse of the August Moon

Odd Obsession

Gate of Hell

Nakayoshi ondo: Nippon ichi dayo

Kurohyō

Tree of Love

Floating Weeds

The Great Wall

Princess Yang Kwei-fei

Kurosawa

Brother and Sister

Black Lizard

Hanakurabe tanuki-den

Hole in One

A Bullet Hole Underground

I'll Not Forget the Song of Nagasaki

The Wandering Princess

The Ladder of Success

Night Butterflies

The Woman and the Pirate

The Woman and the Pirate

Dedication of the Great Buddha

The Princess Sen

Jirocho Fuji

Tora-san's Pure Love

The Motherland Far Far Away

A Rainbow at Every Turn

The Tale of Genji

Asakusa at Night

A Certain Woman

The Family

Buddha

The Makioka Sisters

The Story of Shunkin

Solar Eclipse

The Little Runaway

The Possessed

New Women’s Dialogue

The Loyal 47 Ronin

Bonchi

The Woman Who Touched Legs

The Life of a Horse Trader

Three Women Around Yoshinaka

A Woman's Testament

Beauty and the Thief

Thousand Cranes

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director

Blooms of Hell

Clothes of Deception

Chance Meeting

Born Fighter

The Last Betrayal

Marriageable Age

Dancing Girl

Sweet Sweat

Goodbye, Hello

The Bitch

The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa

A Fool's Love

The Daphne

Tainted Flowers

The Third Will

A Design for Dying

Ugetsu

Itohan Monogatari

Make-Up

Sorrow Is Only for Women

A Girl Isn't Allowed to Love

Tsukigata Hanpeita

Nuregami botan

Resurrection

The Beloved Image

現代インチキ物語　ど狸