Kin Sugai(1926-2018)

Sugai Kin was born Susai Kimiko in Tokyo in 1926. She died in August 2018. Upon graduation from high school she worked in the public sector as an office worker around the end of World War II. However, she always wanted to become an actress and did not want to give up on her dream despite the steady and stable work. She joined the Haiyuza Theatre company despite her father's objection. He explained that actresses are beautiful women, which precludes her. She picked Sugai Kin as her alias as it bore a similarity to her birth name in Japanese. Her father died in 1971 and never saw her act. She began acting in 1947 and her film debut came in January 1951 when she appeared in Kaze Ni Soyogu Ashi ('Reeds That Rustle in the Wind'). In just the next decade she appeared in masterpieces of cinema like The Bad Sleep Well, Ikiru and The Human Condition. She went on to appear in over one hundred and fifty films, as well as on stage in the theatre. Her cross mother-in-law character in the 1973 TV serial Hissatsu Shiokinin ('Person Who Wants To Get Revenge') became so well-known that she wanted to quit the role fearing that, based on her image, her daughter in real life would not find a husband. She went on to accumulate multiple maternal roles. Sugai won the 1985 Japan Academy Prize for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1984's The Funeral, which was directed by Juzo Itami. Sugai was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal by the Japanese government in 1990. She was in big and small screen films in 2010, but fell and broke her leg in that year and finding it difficult to walk, despite rehabilitation, decided to retire. She had married Sugai Kin and remained with him until his death in 1996. Sugai obtained a spot in the Guinness Book Of Records as the oldest actress in a main role for her participation in the film My Grandma in 2008. She was eighty-two years old at the time. She liked to play the shamisen. She was never a good cook. Sugai spent the last five years of her life in an old people's home.