Noriko Matsumoto (actress)
Japanese actress and stage director (1935–2014)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kazuko Shimizu (Japanese: 清水 和子, Hepburn: Shimizu Kazuko; 9 August 1935 – 26 March 2014), known professionally as Noriko Matsumoto (松本 典子, Matsumoto Noriko), was a Japanese actress and stage director. She and her husband, playwright Kunio Shimizu, were co-founders of the stage company Mokutōsha.
Biography
Kazuko Shimizu[1] was born on 9 August 1935 in Tokyo.[1][2] and educated at Ohtani Gakuen and the Haiyuza Theatre Company training school.[1][3] She joined the Mingei Theatre Company in 1959.[3]
After her debut in Kiyomi Hotta's 1954 production of Shima, Matsumoto began appearing in stage productions, including Jukichi Uno's production of Three Sisters.[1] In 1976, she and her husband Kunio Shimizu were among the co-founders of the stage company Mokutōsha, where she later worked as a leading actor and in the 1990s began working as a director.[2][3] Her last performance was at the June 2001 Theater X production of Joyū N.[3] Outside of the stage, also had some film and television credits,[4] including as Fumiko in The Warped Ones.[5]
Matsumoto won two Kinokuniya Theatre Awards: in 1979 for her performances in Mokutōsha's production of Gakuya and Janjan's production of Jochū-tachi; and in 1984 for her performance in Mokutōsha's production of Love Letter: Ai to Hi no Seishin Bunseki.[6] She was awarded a 1987 Arts Encouragement Award for her performance at Tango at the End of Winter .[2]
Following a month of hospitalization, Matsumoto died on 26 March 2014 of interstitial pneumonia at a hospital in Setagaya, aged 78.[4] Her funeral was restricted to close relatives, with Shimizu serving as the chief mourner.[3]