Sanae Nakahara

Early life and education

She graduated from the Kunimoto Girls' High School. Her mother was a stage actress and raised her after divorcing her father.

Career

She first starred in the film Mura Hachibu while still in high school, a film about the Shizuoka Prefecture Ueno village ostracism incident. Two years later she signed an exclusive contract with Japanese movie studio Nikkatsu, appearing in films such as Season of the Sun. She appeared in around 80 works over the next 8 years before becoming independent and acting for other studios.

Her most recent work had mainly been appearances on stage.

Personal life

Nakahara married Kinji Fukasaku, who at the time was a young director at Toei, after they worked together on the film Wolves, Pigs and Men (1964). According to her, there were no meetings with Fukasaku, and although he gave her some acting instruction on the set, they hardly spoke to each other otherwise, but after the film he took, as she described, a furious approach with letters and phone calls. They decided to get married after being together only 3 months. Whenever he directed his own starring actresses, the media was taken with stories of the crisis of their marriage. She continued to support her husband’s filmmaking.

Death

Nakahara died in her home on May 15, 2012. An apartment manager, at the request of her son, entered her home and found her collapsed in the bathroom. Doctors confirmed her death at the hospital with the cause of death being heart failure.

Filmography

Actress

Kani Kōsen (1953) .... Natsu

Mura hatibu (1953)

Moeru Shanghai (1954) .... Qing Lian

Wakai hitotachi (1954)

Aisureba koso (1955) .... Minako (segment 3)

Ôkami (1955)

Hi no tori (1956)

Niko-yon monogatari (1956) .... Kimiko

The Baby Carriage (1956) .... Sachiko Kaneda

Gyûnyû ya Furankî (1956) .... Hatsu

Frankie Bûchan no Aa gunkanki (1957)

All We Want Is Happiness (1957) .... Kimiko

Frankie Bûchan no zoku aa gunkaki: Nyogo ga-shima funsenki (1957)

Temptation (1957) .... Mitsuko Sakuragi

Kokoro to nikutai no tabi (1958) .... Ruriko Tachibana

Chi to ai no shuppatsu (1958) .... Yôko Tsugawa

Red Quay (1958)

Endless Desire (1958) .... Ryuko

Kurenai no Tsubasa (1958)

Shiki no aiyoku (1958)

Arashi no naka o tsuppashire (1958)

Talented Woman (1959)