Sawa Ranko

[Aaron Gerow]

In another bit of sad news for the Japanese film world, Sawa Ranko, 
possibly Japan's oldest living film actress, died on the 11th at the age 
of 99. Sawa debuted in film in 1923 and was a star at Nikkatsu, Teikine 
and Shochiku in the silent era, appearing in such famous works as Kago no 
tori (which ignited the kouta eiga craze) and Ito Daisuke's masterpiece 
Chuji tabi nikki. She left the film industry for good after WWII but was 
active as a chanson singer. When the last episode of Chuji tabi nikki was 
discovered, I remember her coming to the special screening.

I found one site featuring pictures of her (and other prewar actresses):

http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~ccf10780/new_page_98.htm

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
KineJapan list owner
For list commands: send "information kinejapan" to 
listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Kinema Club: http://pears.lib.ohio-state.edu/Markus/Welcome.html