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Iida Chōko (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 is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History T ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. 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
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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 is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...
. That autumn, , a kabuki actor, put out an ad in the ''
Miyako Shinbun was the first Japanese daily newspaper to be published in an evening edition.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). "''Miyako Shimbun''" in It was established in Nagoya. History When the newspaper was founded in 1884, its name was ...
'' 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 was a Japanese film director and film industry executive. Career Born in Nagano Prefecture, Ikeda first worked at the post office before heading to Tokyo in 1920 to join the theater world. He entered the Shochiku studio in 1921 and debuted as ...
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 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...
, 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 was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...
, and Iida played supporting roles in many of his films, such as
Days of Youth is a Japanese comedy film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It is the oldest known surviving film by the director. The film tells of two friends from a university (played by Ichirō Yūki and Tatsuo Saitō) who vie for the attention of the same girl ( ...
and
Tokyo Chorus is a 1931 silent film produced by Shochiku Company, directed by Yasujirō Ozu and starring Tokihiko Okada and Emiko Yagumo. It was based on various stories in the Shoshimin-gai (Middle Class Avenue) series and shares influences with King Vidor ...
. As the film world moved from
silent movies A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...
to "
talkies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decad ...
", 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 was a Japanese filmmaker best remembered for the Academy Award-winning '' Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto'', which was released in 1954. Career Born in Tokyo as the son of a shinpa actor, Inagaki appeared on stage in his childhood before joining ...
's '' Rickshaw Man'', and 's '. She also played the main character's grandmother in
Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the produc ...
's ''Wakadaisho series''. She also appeared in many television dramas. She was awarded a
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
in 1963, and an
Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest tw ...
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 Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
on December 26, 1972.


Filmography


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iida, Choko 1972 deaths 1897 births Actresses from Tokyo Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th class Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Japanese silent film actresses Japanese film actresses