Tokuko Sugiyama

Tokuko Sugiyama

Born: August 16, 1926
Died: August 28, 2014
in Tokyo, Japan
Tokuko Sugiyama (杉山 とく子), also known by her birth name and former stage name Tokuko Sugiyama (杉山 徳子), was a Japanese actress born on August 16, 1926, in Tokyo. She is renowned for her notable roles in the film "The Town with a View of the Capsule" (キューポラのある街) and the TV dramas "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" (男はつらいよ) and "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari Series" (渡る世間は鬼ばかりシリーズ).

After completing her education at Jissen Women's Academy Second High School, Sugiyama initially worked as a nursery school teacher and in Chiba Newspaper's advertising department. Her journey into the entertainment industry began when she applied to Toho's New Face audition and later joined the Bungakuza theater company in 1946. Following two years of training, she became a part of the Haiyūza theater company in 1948 and marked her stage debut with "Tooku e no Hitsuji Goya" (遠くへの羊飼い) the same year.

Sugiyama's film debut occurred in 1949 with "Shiratori wa Kanashikarazu ya" (白鳥は悲しからずや). She played significant supporting roles throughout her career. Notably, in the TV drama "Otoko wa Tsurai yo," she portrayed Tora-san's sister, Tsune, and featured in various roles in the film series.

From 1990 onward, she portrayed Hanako Noda, the mother-in-law of the main character, in the TV drama "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari." Even at the age of 66 in 1992, she continued her acting career from a nursing home in Saitama Prefecture.

Sugiyama retired from the entertainment industry in 2005, with her final appearance in the 7th series of "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari." She passed away on August 28, 2014, at the age of 88 due to liver cancer.

Throughout her career, Sugiyama often collaborated with Kunio Yamazaki, Aiko Nagayama, and Akiko Matsuda. She was a recurring cast member in films directed by Yoji Yamada.

(Translated from Wikipedia Japan "杉山とく子")

Movies for Tokuko Sugiyama...

Village of Dreams
Title: Village of Dreams
Character: Grandmother
Released: July 13, 1996
Type: Movie
Tells of the childhood of two nine-year-old twins in a rural village in Japan after World War 2. Includes the boys relationships with their schoolteacher mother, civil servant father, elderly landlord, a rough new boy at the school, and three mysterious spirits in the form of old women.
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Title: Making It Through
Released: October 11, 1990
Type: TV
Sugako Hashida Drama Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari is a Japanese television drama series that first aired on TBS in 1990.
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Tales of a Golden Geisha
Title: Tales of a Golden Geisha
Released: June 2, 1990
Type: Movie
The film stars two of Itami's regular actors, Nobuko Miyamoto as a geisha who brings luck to the men with whom she sleeps, and Masahiko Tsugawa as her unfaithful, sometimes partner. As well as showing her relationships with the man she loves and the men who employ her, it satirizes corruption and the influence of money in Japanese politics.
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Flower Season
Title: Flower Season
Released: February 27, 1990
Type: Movie
Kitamori Yuki was particular about her promise to her mother-in-law Hana. The promise is that, as the daughter-in-law of Koichi, the eldest son of the Kitamori family, Hana entrusts everything to Yuki, but wants her entire family to come see her on her birthday. At that time, her second son Keisuke's daughter Megumi, who is her private taxi driver, made a mistake, and she was overwhelmed and approached Yuki for advice. Eventually, her mother Kayo of Megumi learned about this, but a period was quietly struck by her women coming to a conclusion that should be the food for Megumi's growth.
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War and Flowers
Title: War and Flowers
Released: May 11, 1989
Type: Movie
Japanese Drama film about the female experience during the war years.
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Bungakusho Satsujin Jiken: Oinaru Jyoso
Title: Bungakusho Satsujin Jiken: Oinaru Jyoso
Character: Takashi Ōgaki
Released: January 28, 1989
Type: Movie
A young doujinshi writer doesn't win the literary prize award, and ends up killing the selection committee.
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A Taxing Woman
Title: A Taxing Woman
Character: Grocery Store Owner's Wife
Released: February 7, 1987
Type: Movie
Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets from the Japanese authorities. Itakura and Gondo soon find themselves engaged in a complicated, satirical battle of wits.
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Metamorphosis
Title: Metamorphosis
Released: October 10, 1986
Type: Movie
A sensuous movie based on a literary work. Hitomi Kuroki stars as the film’s heroine.
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Mofuku no niau hitozuma futari
Title: Mofuku no niau hitozuma futari
Character: Shizue
Released: August 9, 1986
Type: Movie
Yuki Kimura, a company president's secretary, agrees to marry his son Yutaka on the president's recommendation. When Yutaka breaks up with his lover, a hostess, she implies she's going to commit suicide. In a panic to get to her quickly, Yutaka punches a man at a taxi stand. The next day, when Yutaka's lover hears the news about a man dying and realizes it was the man Yutaka punched, she demands money...
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The Empty Table
Title: The Empty Table
Released: November 1, 1985
Type: Movie
One year has passed since the Kidojis' eldest son Otohiko was arrested for his part in a terrorist kidnapping, which resulted in multiple deaths. Although the parents of all the other perpetrators have either resigned from their professional positions or taken their own lives, Nobuyuki Kidoji tries to remain adamant that he was not responsible for his son's actions.
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Tora-san, the Go-Between
Title: Tora-san, the Go-Between
Character: Koharu
Released: August 3, 1985
Type: Movie
In Nagasaki, Tora-san and an acquaintance help an old woman who has fallen and injured herself. She invites them to her home where the three share a night of eating and drinking. The old woman's health deteriorates and she dies. At her funeral, Tora-san falls in love with the old woman's daughter, but winds up acting as a go-between for her and a young law student.
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Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san
Title: Hearts and Flowers for Tora-san
Character: Kagari's mother
Released: August 7, 1982
Type: Movie
During his travels, Tora-san gets drunk with an old man in Kyoto. Though Tora-san never fully comprehends his importance, the old man is a Living National Treasure ceramist. At his home, Tora-san makes a good impression on the old man's maid, who apparently falls in love with Tora-san.
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Tora-san's Promise
Title: Tora-san's Promise
Released: December 28, 1981
Type: Movie
Tora-san returns to his family's home to attend an elementary school class reunion. After he embarrasses himself by getting drunk and insulting all his ex-classmates, he resumes his travels. In Kyushu he meets an outspoken 18-year-old girl who becomes enamored of Tora-san and follows him around. One of Tora-san's old friends is terminally ill and makes Tora-san promise him to marry his wife once he is gone.
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Foster Daddy, Tora!
Title: Foster Daddy, Tora!
Released: December 27, 1980
Type: Movie
After a friend and business colleague dies, Tora-san visits the man's daughter, then takes her to Tokyo so she can study for a night school exam.
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A Distant Cry from Spring
Title: A Distant Cry from Spring
Character: Housewife Next Door
Released: March 15, 1980
Type: Movie
The quiet life of a mother and her young son living on a farm in Hokkaido is changed by the arrival of a man who ignites flames of romance in the heart of the mother and shows her boy the importance of grit and kindness, but then he leaves with the autumn wind.
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Twelve Months
Title: Twelve Months
Character: Stepmother
Released: March 15, 1980
Type: Movie
A young queen requests a bouquet of snowdrop flowers for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward. One greedy woman sends her stepdaughter, whom she does not like, to look for the flowers in a cold forest, knowing the task will be impossible for her. The girl almost freezes to death in the forest, but she is rescued by the spirits of the Twelve Months, who create spring around her. The girl is able to deliver the bouquet to the queen, but others want a share of the reward.
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Stage-Struck Tora-san
Title: Stage-Struck Tora-san
Released: August 5, 1978
Type: Movie
Tora-san leaves Shibamata once again after an argument with his family and finds himself at an inn where he meets Tomekichi, a young man who looks up to Tora-san.
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Tora-san Plays Cupid
Title: Tora-san Plays Cupid
Released: December 24, 1977
Type: Movie
Tora-san becomes friends with Toraya's newest tenant, a pachinko-playing electrician that goes by the nickname Watt. Tora attempts to match Watt with a young waitress.
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The Wild Swans
Title: The Wild Swans
Character: Witch (voice)
Released: March 19, 1977
Type: Movie
A young girl must spend six years making sweatshirts out of poison ivy in order to save her six brothers which have been turned into swans by an evil sorceress.
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The Village
Title: The Village
Released: April 12, 1976
Type: Movie
This appears to be a labor of love. Its about a village which is given the opportunity to put on a musical. They would have to pay the overhead and, being that they are farmers and always busy and not rich, question the wisdom and feasibility of such an idea. A spokesperson for the acting troupe Ms. Kono lays out the whole thing and they must decide. You get little slices of rural life in Japan far, at least in sentiment, from Tokyo. The best thing about this film is that it has heart. The acting is good, but it is really about the simple storyline of outing on a show. Films rarely get made with such simplistic plots these days. Enjoy this little slice of what city people call “the simple life”.
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Great Jailbreak
Title: Great Jailbreak
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: Movie
A group of prisoners attempts to break the Abashiri prison. This film can be considered a sequel to the Abashiri Bangaichi series, written and directed by Ishii Teruo. The friendship between two men on death row, a fleeting love affair with a traveling dancer and a deadly battle with the real culprit who has hunted him down filmed over a long period of time on location in Hokkaido.
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Kobayashi Takiji
Title: Kobayashi Takiji
Released: February 20, 1974
Type: Movie
A tribute to proletarian author Takiji Kobayashi (1903-1933)
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Tora-san's Runaway
Title: Tora-san's Runaway
Released: August 26, 1970
Type: Movie
After an encounter with a dying yakuza's son and at his sister Sakura's urging, Torajiro attempts to change his vagrant lifestyle and become an honest worker with a steady job.
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Title: It's Tough Being a Man
Released: October 3, 1968
Type: TV
The original TV Drama series the famous Tora film series was based on.
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It's Tough Being a Man (Television Drama DVD Edit Edition)
Title: It's Tough Being a Man (Television Drama DVD Edit Edition)
Released: October 3, 1968
Type: Movie
This is the DVD version of the TV show, which consists of a single video that plays the first and last episodes of the tv show bridged by an edit recapping the major events of the lost middle episodes.
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Horus: Prince of the Sun
Title: Horus: Prince of the Sun
Character: Chahal (voice)
Released: July 24, 1968
Type: Movie
Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to the lands of his ancestors, encountering the beautiful but enigmatic Hilda as his journey leads to a series of adventures.
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Cupola, Where the Furnaces Glow
Title: Cupola, Where the Furnaces Glow
Character: Tomi (Jun's mother)
Released: April 8, 1962
Type: Movie
Set in Kawaguchi in the early 60s, this simple story chronicles the lives of foundry families and one girl's dreams of higher education.
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Keishichō monogatari iryū-hin nashi
Title: Keishichō monogatari iryū-hin nashi
Released: September 15, 1959
Type: Movie
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The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
Title: The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
Character: (uncredited)
Released: January 15, 1959
Type: Movie
After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts, and moves to Manchuria with his newly-wed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
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The Forest Is Alive
Title: The Forest Is Alive
Released: October 8, 1956
Type: Movie
Film adaptation of the stage version of Samuil Marshak's "Twelve Months"