Hideko Takamine, a child star in Japan in the 1930s who became one of her country's leading screen actresses during the post-World War II era, in which she played a variety of contemporary women who captured the tenor of the times, has died. She was 86.
Takamine, who died of lung cancer Dec. 28 in Tokyo, made her screen debut at age 5 in the hit 1929 silent film "Mother" and is said to have been in more than 300 films in a career that ended when she retired in 1979.
"Hideko Takamine was one of the most beloved and accomplished of Japan's film stars," said Kevin Thomas, a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who reviewed Japanese films from 1962 to 1985. "She was beautiful, and she had tremendous range and versatility."
After beginning as "sort of Japan's answer to Shirley Temple," Thomas said, "she emerged as one of Japan's greatest star actresses in the postwar period, which was a tremendous period for Japanese cinema."
In the wake of the war, Thomas said, "there was this renaissance of Japanese filmmaking. They could discuss the war and assess blame, the impact of the occupation, the growing emancipation of women - all this kind of stuff. There was this terrific ferment, and it was a really creative period."
via The LA Times
