Iida Chōko (Japanese: 飯田 蝶子; April 15, 1897 – December 26, 1972) was a Japanese actress. Her real name was Shigehara Tefu. She played working class women and grandmothers, and appeared in more than 300 films. Her husband was cameraman .

Biography

Early life Iida was born on April 15, 1897, in what is now Asakusa, Tokyo. Though her father was a minor official with the Ministry of Communications, the family didn't have much money, so Iida was sent to live with her maternal grandmother at 2 years old.キネマ旬報1980 Iida was the oldest of 5 children, but because of their poverty the children became malnourished and developed nyctalopia. After studying at a private elementary school, Iida entered the Ueno Koto Jogakko with her grandmother's help, and worked at an outdoor exhibition at night to help with the family's finances. She eventually found that she enjoyed working more than school. She stopped attending school for two months until the seasonal exhibition closed in autumn.

Career as an actress In 1913 Iida began working at the Matsuzakaya in Ueno.松坂屋「ひと・こと・もの」語り、2015年8月5日閲覧 She worked in several positions there, including in the sewing department and as a clerk. In 1919, Iida began writing for an entertainment newspaper company in Nihonbashi. That autumn, , a kabuki actor, put out an ad in the Miyako Shinbun for an actress to perform for a theater called the Asakusa Koen Gekijo. They hired Iida, but she found that all of her roles were of handmaidens. When the theater director died in 1920, the theater was dissolved. Iida applied to work at film studios, but was rejected.

Entering Shochiku Kamata In 1922 Iida and a friend from her newspaper days applied to work at the . They originally hired only Iida's friend, but one of Iida's colleagues who worked at Shochiku stepped in and encouraged them to hire her for supporting roles, like maids.

In January 1923, Iida officially entered the company. She debuted in the film Shi ni iku tsuma. Her first film that made her famous was Yami o iku, in which she was praised by director Yoshinobu Ikeda for playing a sexually unappealing laborer. Iida then received good reviews and a bonus for her role as an elderly woman in Kiyohiko Ushihara's Jinsei no Ai. She briefly moved to another film studio after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, but soon returned to the Kamata studio in January 1924.

Shochiku In 1924, while playing a female factory worker in Ikeda's Sweet Home, Iida cut her lip on an apple crate during a scene in which she attacks Moroguchi Tsuzuya. She needed two stitches, and resolved to refine her acting skills. In July of that year, Iida was asked to act in more comedies, like 's "Gamaguchi". In 1925, Iida began training to become management with and . In 1926 Iida was officially promoted to upper management with . Iida married Hideo Shigehara, a camera operator, in 1927. Shigehara worked often with Yasujirō Ozu, and Iida played supporting roles in many of his films, such as Days of Youth and Tokyo Chorus. As the film world moved from silent movies to "talkies", Iida began studying rakugo. Her first sound film was Chushingura in 1932. She later became known for her expressive acting style in Ozu's A Story of Floating Weeds. Post-war and death Iida's first film after the war ended in 1945 was Heinosuke Gosho's Izu no Musumetachi. This film was also Iida's last film with Shochiku, and she left them to become a freelancer. Her first post-war film with Yasujirō Ozu was Record of a Tenement Gentleman, in 1947. She also appeared in Akira Kurosawa's Drunken Angel and Stray Dog, Hiroshi Inagaki's Rickshaw Man, and 's . She also played the main character's grandmother in Toho's Wakadaisho series. She also appeared in many television dramas. She was awarded a Medal of Honor in 1963, and an Order of the Sacred Treasure in 1967. In the same year, her husband died.

While filming a television drama on July 26, 1972, Iida's health suddenly worsened. She was taken to the hospital the next day, where she was diagnosed with pleurisy. She died of lung cancer on December 26, 1972.

Filmography

+ Film performances Year Title Role 1923 Shi ni iku tsuma 1928 Ritsuko 1929 Owner of the Umenoya Days of Youth Chieko's aunt I Graduated, But... Boarding house owner 1931 Tokyo Chorus Teacher's wife 1932 Until the Day We Meet Again Maid Fuwa Kazuemon's wife Passing Fancy Otome 1933 Every-Night Dreams Proprietess Apart from You Landlady of geisha house 1934 A Mother Should Be Loved Cleaning lady A Story of Floating Weeds Otsune, Ka-yan Our Neighbor, Miss Yae Hamako Hattori 1935 An Inn in Tokyo Otsune 1936 The Only Son Tsune Nonomiya 1937 What Did the Lady Forget? Chiyoko Sugiyama 1940 Nobuko Okei 1941 Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family Kiyo the maid 1946 Aru yo no Tonosama Okuma 1947 Black market woman Aru yo no Tonosama Otane Tama Takemura 1948 Drunken Angel Bāya 1949 Teru Stray Dog 1950 Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka A Mother's Love 1952 Rikon Kikuyo 1954 Dobu Tami 1955 Keisatsu Nikki Tatsu Takekurabe Otoki The Eternal Breasts 1956 Mahiru no ankoku Uemura Tsuna Romantic DaughtersWoman at the department store 1957 Yellow Crow Stepbrothers Masu 1958 Rickshaw ManOtora (innkeeper) 1961 As a Wife, As a Woman 1961–1970 Wakadaisho seriesTanuma Riki 1962 A Wanderer's NotebookOwner of the candy shop

References

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