Hidari Sachiko

[Aaron Gerow]

Sorry it took time for me to report this, but the great Japanese actress 
and filmmaker Hidari Sachiko died on the 7th of lung cancer.  She was 71 
years old.  Her death was not reported until the 10th, before which her 
family held a private funeral.

Hidari started out as a school teacher before she debuted in film in 
1952, working at Shin Toho, Nikkatsu, Daiei and Shochiku before going 
free. Of the nearly 100 films she appeared in, her most famous works are 
Imamura Shohei's Insect Woman, for which she won best actress award at 
the Berlin Film Festival, and Uchida Tomu's Straits of Hunger.  She was 
also a pioneer woman filmmaker, directing and producing the film _Toi 
ippon no michi_ in 1977.

She married the director Hani Susumu in 1959, but divorced him in 1977.  
Hani later married Hidari's sister Kimiko. Another of Hidari's sisters, 
Hidari Tokie, is also a prominent actress.

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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