was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

actress and

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. Born Reiko Ando in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, she began as a stage actress. Kitabayashi was a founding member of the famed

Mingei Theatre Company The is a Japanese theatre company that stages Shingeki plays. Along with the Haiyuza Theatre Company and Bungakuza it is considered one of the "Big Three" among Shingeki theatre troupes. History Gekidan Mingei, meaning "The People's Art The ...

, founded in 1950. Early in her career, she became well known for portraying older women. In 1960, she won best actress awards at the 10th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan. The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers. In 1961, the six major Japanes ...

and at the

Mainichi Film Awards The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

for ''

Kiku to Isamu is a 1959 Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai which addresses the subject of children from interracial relationships. Cast *Emiko Takahashi *George Okunoyama *Tanie Kitabayashi *Kōji Mitsui *Osamu Takizawa * Rentarō Mikuni *Seiji Miyaguchi * ...

''. She also won the Japan Academy Prize for best actress in ''

Rainbow Kids is a 1991 Japanese comedy film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and starring Tanie Kitabayashi and Ken Ogata. The film won several Japanese film awards, including Tanie Kitabayashi who won awards for Best Actress at Kinema Junpo Awards, Mainichi Film ...

'' (1991), a film that also earned her honors from the Mainichi Film Awards and from ''

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

''. She died on April 27, 2010, of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital. She was 98.

Filmography

Films

*''

Children of Hiroshima is a 1952 Japanese drama film directed by Kaneto Shindō. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Takako Ishikawa ( Nobuko Otowa) is a teacher on an island in the inland sea off the coast of post-war Hiroshima. During her summer ...

'' (1952) *''

Epitome An epitome (; gr, ἐπιτομή, from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "t ...

'' (1953) *''

Life of a Woman is a 1953 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Childr ...

'' (1953) *''

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

'' (1955) *''

Mahiru no ankoku is a 1956 Japanese drama film directed by Tadashi Imai. It is based on an actual court case, described in the non-fiction book "Saibankan–Hito no inochi wa kenryoku de ubaeru mono ka" by attorney Hiroshi Masaki. Cast * Kōjirō Kusanagi * Sac ...

'' (1956) *''

Shirogane Shinjū is a 1956 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. It is based on a novel of the same name by Torahiko Tamiya. Cast * Nobuko Otowa as Sakie / Umeko * Hiroyuki Nagato as Tamatarō * Jūkichi Uno as Kiichi * Chikako Hosokawa ...

'' (1956) *''

An Actress is a 1956 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindo. Cast * Nobuko Otowa as Kakuko Mori * Chikako Hosokawa as Tsukiko, Kakuko's mother * Shinsuke Ashida as Shinichirō Yagi * Sen Hara as Chiyo, Akio's mother * Sumiko Hidaka a ...

'' (1956) *'' The Hole'' (1957) *'' Yūrakuchō de Aimashō'' (1957) *''

Enjō is a 1958 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa and adapted from the Yukio Mishima novel '' The Temple of the Golden Pavilion''. Its English title is ''Conflagration''. Synopsis Told in an intricate flashback structure, ''Enjō'' dramatizes ...

'' (1958) *''

'' (1959) *'' My Second Brother'' (1959) *''

Odd Obsession is a 1959 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It was based on the novel '' The Key'', by Japanese novelist Junichirō Tanizaki. Plot A man who suspects ...

'' (1959) *''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

'' (1960) *''

Foundry Town is a 1962 Japanese drama film directed by Kirio Urayama. It was entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival and won the Blue Ribbon Awards in 1962. Cast * Sayuri Yoshinaga as Jun * Mitsuo Hamada as Tsukamoto, Katsumi * Eijirō Tōno as Ishigu ...

'' (1962) *''

The Insect Woman is a 1963 Japanese drama film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It was entered into the 14th Berlin International Film Festival, where Sachiko Hidari won the Silver Bear for Best Actress award. It was also awarded numerous national film prizes. Plot ...

'' (1963) *'' Bad Girl'' (1963) *''

The Human Bullet is a 1968 Japanese satiric anti-war film about a soldier who becomes assigned to a suicide mission against the US Forces during the late stage of World War II. It was written and directed by Kihachi Okamoto. Plot During the last days of the wa ...

'' (1968) *''

Apart from Life ''Apart from Life'' ( ja, 地の群れ, translit. Chi no mure) is a 1970 Japanese drama film directed by Kei Kumai. It was entered into the 20th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Mizuho Suzuki as Unami * Hiroko Kino as Noriko F ...

'' (1970) *''

Proof of the Man is a Japanese film from 1977 directed by Junya Satō, starring George Kennedy and Yūsaku Matsuda. It was produced by Haruki Kadokawa. Plot A young black man from New York named Johnny Hayward (Joe Yamanaka) receives a sum of money. He buys ne ...

'' (1977) *'' Nomugi Pass'' (1979) *'' Station'' (1981) *''

Suspicion Suspicion is a feeling of mistrust. Suspicion(s), The Suspicion, or Suspicious may also refer to: Film and television Film * ''Suspicion'' (1918 film), an American silent film directed by John M. Stahl * ''Suspicion'' (1941 film), an American ...

'' (1982) *'' The Burmese Harp'' (1985) *''

My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story of a ...

'' (1988) – Kanta's grandmother (voice) *'' Rikyu'' (1989) –

Ōmandokoro Ōmandokoro (大政所, 1516 – 29 August 1592) or Ōmandokoro Naka was the mother of the Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. She was also the mother of Asahi no kata, Tomo and Toyotomi Hidenaga. Biography It is said that Ōmandokoro was born ...

*''

'' (1991) – Mrs. Toshiko Yanagawa *''

Yomigaeri is a 2002 Japanese film directed by Akihiko Shiota that released theatrically on 18 January 2003. It features Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (of the pop group SMAP) and Yūko Takeuchi in the lead role. Plot Set in the city of Aso in Kumamoto Prefecture, the ...

'' (2002) *'' Letters from the Mountains'' (2002)

Television

*''

Shiroi Kyotō is a 1965 novel by Toyoko Yamasaki. It has been adapted into a film in 1966 and then five times as a television series in 1967, 1978, 1990, 2003, and 2019. The 1966 film was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a S ...

'' (1978) – Ume Yamada

Japanese dub

*''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

'' (1937, dub in 1958) - The Evil Queen

Honours

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...

(1978)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitabayashi, Tanie 1911 births 2010 deaths Japanese voice actresses People from Tokyo Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon