Yoko Tani
Encyclopedia
was a French-born Japanese actress and nightclub entertainer.
According to contemporary French sources, her father and mother were attached to the Japanese embassy in Paris, and Tani herself was conceived en route during a shipboard passage from Japan to Europe in 1927, hence given the name Yōko (洋子), one reading of which can mean "ocean-child."
But according to Japanese sources, the family returned to Japan in 1930, when Yoko would still have been a toddler, and she did not return to France until 1950, when her schooling was completed. Given that there were severe restrictions on Japanese travelling outside Japan directly after WWII, this would have been an unusual event. However, the sources state that Itani had attended an elite Catholic girls' school in Tokyo (unnamed, but probably Seishin, which the Japanese Empress Michiko also attended), and through it secured a Catholic scholarship to study at the University of Paris.
, she developed an immediate attraction to the cabaret, the nightclub, and the variety music-hall, where --- setting herself up as an exotic oriental beauty --- she quickly established a reputation for her provocatively sexy "geisha" dances, which generally ended with her slipping out of her kimono. It was here she was spotted by Marcel Carné
, who took her into his circle of director and actor-friends, including Roland Lesaffre, whom she was later to marry. As a result, she began to get bit parts in films—starting as (predictably) a Japanese dancer, in Gréville's Le port du désir (1953–1954, released 1955)—and on the stage, with a role as le Lotus Bleu in la Petite Maison de Thé (French adaptation of The Teahouse of the August Moon
) at the Théâtre Montparnasse
, 1954-1955 season.
See link: as a general example of her (for lack of a better word) schtick -- this amusing video is interesting also in that it latterly contains the young Yoko's recorded voice, showing her as being far from a native speaker.
and Kurosawa, contacts which led to a trip to Japan in 1956 by Tani and Lesaffre, and their joint appearance in the Toho
production Fukuaki no seishun (裸足の青春 fr. La jeunesse aux pieds nus). It was originally intended that the film be directed by Kurosawa himself, but in the end it fell to his Toho
stable-mate Taniguchi Senkichi
. Tani and Lesaffre's ambition was to bring the film back to France and release it in the French market, an aim which was never achieved.
During the same trip, and also for Toho
, Tani took a small role in Hisamatsu
's Jōshû to tomo ni (女囚と共に), a variant on the dubious but ever-popular "women in prison" theme, in which she played a westernised Japanese Catholic named Mary. This film, now virtually unobtainable, was notable only in that it also starred two veritable legends of Japanese cinema: Hara Setsuko and Tanaka Kinuyo. (Despite this, it's not clear how much contact, if any, she would have had with them --- apart from the relative novelty of having a French husband in tow, Tani would have been an absolute 'nobody' compared with these great Japanese stars).
, a political drama set in French Indochina. Despite being an American production, the film was shot entirely in Rome (with location scenes of Saigon added), with Tani cast as a francophone Vietnamese nightclub hostess.
But Tani's real "break" in English-language cinema came with the 1958 production The Wind Cannot Read
. This film, a war-time love story, had originally been a project of the British producer Alexander Korda
, and was to have been directed by David Lean
, who in 1955 travelled to Japan with author Richard Mason and cast Japanese actress Kishi Keiko as the female lead. Locations were scouted in India, and Ms Kishi (then 22 years old) was brought to England to learn sufficient English for the part. At a very advanced stage, the project fell apart, and a few months later Korda died. The pieces were eventually picked up by the Rank Organization, and it was decided to produce the film using the script and locations already set out by Lean, with one of Rank's big stars, Dirk Bogarde
, in the male lead, Ralph Thomas
to direct, and Tani, who was found in Paris, to play the leading female role. The film was a modest commercial success, and lead to further roles in other British co-productions --- as the Inuit Asiak in the Anglo-French-Italian The Savage Innocents
(1959), and as the ingénue Seraphina in Piccadilly Third Stop
(1960).
Aside from The Quiet American
, her only other "Hollywood" roles were in My Geisha
(1962 - shot, however, on location in Japan) and the fatuous Dean Martin comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
(1963, shot at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles).
Usually type-cast as an exotic, Tani nevertheless got to play unusual roles as a result, as evidenced by her portrayal of Japanese scientist Sumiko Ogimura in the self-consciously internationalist 1959 East-German DEFA / Polish film production of Stanisław Lem's novel The Astronauts
, Der schweigende Stern. Perhaps even more unusual (for the time) was her trip to the Vancouver Islands in Canada in 1962 to play the role of Mary Ota in James Clavell
's The Sweet and the Bitter, which treated the aftermath of the wartime internment of Canadian Japanese and the loss of their properties and their businesses.
cinema and in femme fatale
roles in UK television dramas such as Danger Man
and Man in a Suitcase
.
Despite her involvement with film, Tani never abandoned her attachment to the nightclub and cabaret. The British producer Betty Evelyn Box, when looking for the female lead for The Wind Cannot Read
(vide supra), wrote:
And, from a 1960's account of the well-known Le Crazy Horse de Paris nightclub:
Even as late as 1977, we find her in São Paulo, where she had a small role in Chinese-Brazilian director Juan Bajon's sexploitation film O Estripador de Mulheres :
were married the following year.)
She died in Paris, after a long illness, but is buried in the remote seaside village of Binic
, in Brittany. Her tomb carries the Breton inscription «Ganeoc'h Bepred». Notably, her late husband, Lesaffre, is buried together with Marcel Carné in his grave in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in Montmartre.
Early life
Her birth name was Itani Yōko (猪谷洋子). She has occasionally been described as 'Eurasian', 'half-French', 'half-Japanese', and even 'Italian-Japanese', all of which are incorrect.According to contemporary French sources, her father and mother were attached to the Japanese embassy in Paris, and Tani herself was conceived en route during a shipboard passage from Japan to Europe in 1927, hence given the name Yōko (洋子), one reading of which can mean "ocean-child."
But according to Japanese sources, the family returned to Japan in 1930, when Yoko would still have been a toddler, and she did not return to France until 1950, when her schooling was completed. Given that there were severe restrictions on Japanese travelling outside Japan directly after WWII, this would have been an unusual event. However, the sources state that Itani had attended an elite Catholic girls' school in Tokyo (unnamed, but probably Seishin, which the Japanese Empress Michiko also attended), and through it secured a Catholic scholarship to study at the University of Paris.
Return to France (1950–1955)
There was no question that she was bright, but there was equally no question that, once in Paris, she had much interest in attending university. Installing herself in MontmartreMontmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
, she developed an immediate attraction to the cabaret, the nightclub, and the variety music-hall, where --- setting herself up as an exotic oriental beauty --- she quickly established a reputation for her provocatively sexy "geisha" dances, which generally ended with her slipping out of her kimono. It was here she was spotted by Marcel Carné
Marcel Carné
-Biography:Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in...
, who took her into his circle of director and actor-friends, including Roland Lesaffre, whom she was later to marry. As a result, she began to get bit parts in films—starting as (predictably) a Japanese dancer, in Gréville's Le port du désir (1953–1954, released 1955)—and on the stage, with a role as le Lotus Bleu in la Petite Maison de Thé (French adaptation of The Teahouse of the August Moon
The Teahouse of the August Moon (play)
The Teahouse of the August Moon is a 1953 play written by John Patrick adapted from the 1951 novel by Vern Sneider. It was later adapted for film in 1956, and the 1970 Broadway musical, Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen.-Plot summary:...
) at the Théâtre Montparnasse
Théâtre Montparnasse
The Théâtre Montparnasse is a theater at 31, rue de la Gaîté in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.-History:The present structure was built in 1886 on a site that had been dedicated to theatre since 1817...
, 1954-1955 season.
See link: as a general example of her (for lack of a better word) schtick -- this amusing video is interesting also in that it latterly contains the young Yoko's recorded voice, showing her as being far from a native speaker.
Lesaffre and Japan (1956)
It should be noted that Tani's involvement with cinema was, up to the mid 1950s, limited entirely to that of portraying stereotyped orientals in French films. With the end of the US occupation of Japan in 1952, however, postwar Japanese cinema itself burst upon the French scene, culminating in the years 1955 and 1956 when a total of six Japanese films, including Kurosawa's Ikimono no Kiroku (生きものの記録) and Mizoguchi's Chikamatsu Monogatari (近松物語), were entered at Cannes. And it was at Cannes that Tani made contact with the likes of directors Hisamatsu SeijiSeiji Hisamatsu
was a Japanese film director. He directed 101 films between 1934 and 1965.-Selected filmography:* * Keisatsu nikki * Onna no koyomi -External links:...
and Kurosawa, contacts which led to a trip to Japan in 1956 by Tani and Lesaffre, and their joint appearance in the Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
production Fukuaki no seishun (裸足の青春 fr. La jeunesse aux pieds nus). It was originally intended that the film be directed by Kurosawa himself, but in the end it fell to his Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
stable-mate Taniguchi Senkichi
Senkichi Taniguchi
was a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He joined P.C.L...
. Tani and Lesaffre's ambition was to bring the film back to France and release it in the French market, an aim which was never achieved.
During the same trip, and also for Toho
Toho
is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
, Tani took a small role in Hisamatsu
Seiji Hisamatsu
was a Japanese film director. He directed 101 films between 1934 and 1965.-Selected filmography:* * Keisatsu nikki * Onna no koyomi -External links:...
's Jōshû to tomo ni (女囚と共に), a variant on the dubious but ever-popular "women in prison" theme, in which she played a westernised Japanese Catholic named Mary. This film, now virtually unobtainable, was notable only in that it also starred two veritable legends of Japanese cinema: Hara Setsuko and Tanaka Kinuyo. (Despite this, it's not clear how much contact, if any, she would have had with them --- apart from the relative novelty of having a French husband in tow, Tani would have been an absolute 'nobody' compared with these great Japanese stars).
International Period (1958–1962)
Early in 1957 she appeared in a small role in her first English-language film: the MGM production of Graham Greene's The Quiet AmericanThe Quiet American
The Quiet American is an anti-war novel by British author Graham Greene, first published in United Kingdom in 1955 and in the United States in 1956. It was adapted into films in 1958 and 2002. The book draws on Greene's experiences as a war correspondent for The Times and Le Figaro in French...
, a political drama set in French Indochina. Despite being an American production, the film was shot entirely in Rome (with location scenes of Saigon added), with Tani cast as a francophone Vietnamese nightclub hostess.
But Tani's real "break" in English-language cinema came with the 1958 production The Wind Cannot Read
The Wind Cannot Read
The Wind Cannot Read is a 1958 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, Ronald Lewis and John Fraser...
. This film, a war-time love story, had originally been a project of the British producer Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
, and was to have been directed by David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
, who in 1955 travelled to Japan with author Richard Mason and cast Japanese actress Kishi Keiko as the female lead. Locations were scouted in India, and Ms Kishi (then 22 years old) was brought to England to learn sufficient English for the part. At a very advanced stage, the project fell apart, and a few months later Korda died. The pieces were eventually picked up by the Rank Organization, and it was decided to produce the film using the script and locations already set out by Lean, with one of Rank's big stars, Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...
, in the male lead, Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....
to direct, and Tani, who was found in Paris, to play the leading female role. The film was a modest commercial success, and lead to further roles in other British co-productions --- as the Inuit Asiak in the Anglo-French-Italian The Savage Innocents
The Savage Innocents
The Savage Innocents is a 1960 film, adapted from the novel Top of the World by Swiss writer Hans Rüesch.The screenplay was mainly written by its director, Nicholas Ray, who shot the film in the Canadian Arctic...
(1959), and as the ingénue Seraphina in Piccadilly Third Stop
Piccadilly Third Stop
Piccadilly Third Stop is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Terence Morgan, Yoko Tani, William Hartnell and Dennis Price...
(1960).
Aside from The Quiet American
The Quiet American
The Quiet American is an anti-war novel by British author Graham Greene, first published in United Kingdom in 1955 and in the United States in 1956. It was adapted into films in 1958 and 2002. The book draws on Greene's experiences as a war correspondent for The Times and Le Figaro in French...
, her only other "Hollywood" roles were in My Geisha
My Geisha
My Geisha is a 1962 American comedy film directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Yves Montand, Shirley MacLaine, and Edward G. Robinson, and released by Paramount Pictures...
(1962 - shot, however, on location in Japan) and the fatuous Dean Martin comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? is a 1963 movie comedy starring Dean Martin, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Carol Burnett, and directed by Daniel Mann.-Plot:...
(1963, shot at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles).
Usually type-cast as an exotic, Tani nevertheless got to play unusual roles as a result, as evidenced by her portrayal of Japanese scientist Sumiko Ogimura in the self-consciously internationalist 1959 East-German DEFA / Polish film production of Stanisław Lem's novel The Astronauts
The Astronauts
The Astronauts is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951....
, Der schweigende Stern. Perhaps even more unusual (for the time) was her trip to the Vancouver Islands in Canada in 1962 to play the role of Mary Ota in James Clavell
James Clavell
James Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
's The Sweet and the Bitter, which treated the aftermath of the wartime internment of Canadian Japanese and the loss of their properties and their businesses.
Spies, Swords and Sandals (1963 - )
1962/63 marked a shift in Tani's career: a return (once again) to France and the definitive end to her marriage to Lesaffre. From this point on she was to be more strictly Europe-based and to take on work mainly in the low-budget Italian peplumSword and sandal
The Peplum , also known as Sword-and-Sandal, is a genre of largely Italian-made Historical or Biblical Epics that dominated the Italian film industry from 1957 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western"...
cinema and in femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
roles in UK television dramas such as Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
and Man in a Suitcase
Man in a Suitcase
Man in a Suitcase is a 1967 television series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.-Origins and overview:Man in a Suitcase was effectively a replacement for Danger Man, whose production had been curtailed when its star Patrick McGoohan had decided to create his own series, The Prisoner...
.
Despite her involvement with film, Tani never abandoned her attachment to the nightclub and cabaret. The British producer Betty Evelyn Box, when looking for the female lead for The Wind Cannot Read
The Wind Cannot Read
The Wind Cannot Read is a 1958 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, Ronald Lewis and John Fraser...
(vide supra), wrote:
And, from a 1960's account of the well-known Le Crazy Horse de Paris nightclub:
Even as late as 1977, we find her in São Paulo, where she had a small role in Chinese-Brazilian director Juan Bajon's sexploitation film O Estripador de Mulheres :
Personal life
Her 1956 marriage to Lesaffre (who maintained an ongoing, probably homosexual, liaison with Carné) was childless, and ended in divorce in 1962. Lesaffre claimed in his autobiography Mataf (éditions Pygmalion, 1991), that theirs was the first Franco-Japanese marriage after WWII --- conceivably true, but almost impossible to verify. (True or not, it may have begun something of a trend, since Kishi Keiko and Yves CiampiYves Ciampi
Yves Ciampi was a French director, born 1921, died 1982. He was married to Japanese actress Kishi Keiko from 1957 to 1975.-Filmography:*1950 : Suzanne et les brigands*1950 : Un certain monsieur*1951 : Un grand patron...
were married the following year.)
She died in Paris, after a long illness, but is buried in the remote seaside village of Binic
Binic
Binic is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Bretagne in northwestern France.It is about 10 km north of Saint-Brieuc.Its beaches have become clogged with sea lettuce.-History:...
, in Brittany. Her tomb carries the Breton inscription «Ganeoc'h Bepred». Notably, her late husband, Lesaffre, is buried together with Marcel Carné in his grave in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in Montmartre.
Filmography
- 1954 (France) : Le port du désir dir. Edmond T. GrévilleEdmond T. GrévilleEdmond T. Gréville was a French film director and screenwriter....
- a dancer - 1954 (France) : Les Clandestines dir. Raoul AndréRaoul AndréRaoul André was a French director and screenwriter, He was married to actress Louise Carletti , and he is the father of Ariane Carletti.- Filmography :* 1947 : Le Village de la colère...
- a Chinese girl - 1954 (France) : Ali Baba et les Quarante voleurs dir. Jacques BeckerJacques BeckerJacques Becker was a French screenwriter and film director.Becker was born in Paris, in an upper class background. During the 1930s he worked as an assistant to director Jean Renoir during his peak period, which produced such cinematic masterpieces as Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game...
- 1954 (France) : Marchandes d'illusions dir. Raoul AndréRaoul AndréRaoul André was a French director and screenwriter, He was married to actress Louise Carletti , and he is the father of Ariane Carletti.- Filmography :* 1947 : Le Village de la colère...
- a Eurasian - 1954 (France) : Les pépées font la loiLes pépées font la loiLes pépées font la loi , is a French comedy film from 1954, directed by Raoul André, written by Raymond Caillava, starring Claudine Dupuis and Louis de Funès.- Cast :* Claudine Dupuis : Elvire, a daughter of Flora...
dir. Raoul AndréRaoul AndréRaoul André was a French director and screenwriter, He was married to actress Louise Carletti , and he is the father of Ariane Carletti.- Filmography :* 1947 : Le Village de la colère...
- The Lotus Flower - 1954 (W. Germany) : Verrat an Deutschland (Der Fall Dr. Sorge) dir. Veit HarlanVeit HarlanVeit Harlan was a German film director and actor.-Life and career:Harlan was born in Berlin. After studying under Max Reinhardt, he first appeared on the stage in 1915 and, after World War I, worked in the Berlin stage. In 1922 he married Jewish actress and cabaret singer Dora Gerson; the couple...
- Hanako - 1955 (France) : Interdit de séjour dir. Maurice de Canonge - a dancer
- 1955 (France) : Gueule d'ange dir. Marcel BlistèneMarcel BlistèneMarcel Blistène, born Marcel Blitstein , was a French film director.Marcel Blistène joined Paramount in 1930 as an assistant, after studying literature...
- "Bamboo Flower" - 1955 (France) : Paris canaille dir. Pierre Gaspard-Huit, released 1956 - a student
- 1955 (France) : À la manière de Sherlock Holmes dir. Henri Lepage
- 1956 (Japan) : 裸足の青春 - Hadashi no seishun / Barefoot Youth dir. 谷口千吉 / Senkichi TaniguchiSenkichi Taniguchiwas a Japanese film director and screenwriter.Born in Tokyo, Japan, he attended Waseda University but left before graduating due to his involvement in a left-wing theater troupe. He joined P.C.L...
- Okano Mariko - 1956 (Japan) : 女囚と共に - Jōshû to tomo ni / Women in Prison dir. 久松静児 / Seiji HisamatsuSeiji Hisamatsuwas a Japanese film director. He directed 101 films between 1934 and 1965.-Selected filmography:* * Keisatsu nikki * Onna no koyomi -External links:...
- Mary, a prisoner - 1956 (France) : Mannequins de Paris dir. André HunebelleAndré HunebelleAndré Hunebelle was a French director born September 1, 1896 in Meudon , died 27 November 1985 in Nice .Hunebelle was a former publisher of a French newspaper called La Fleché...
- Lotus - 1957 (France) : Les Œufs de l'autruche dir. Denys de La PatellièreDenys de La PatellièreDenys de La Patellière is a French film director and scriptwriter.He was born in Nantes.-Filmography as director:* 1955 : Les Aristocrates with Pierre Fresnay...
- The Countess - 1957 (France) : La Fille de feu dir. Alfred Rode - Zélie
- 1958 (Italy) : The Quiet American dir. Joseph L. MankiewiczJoseph L. MankiewiczJoseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...
- head nightclub hostess - 1958 (UK) : The Wind Cannot ReadThe Wind Cannot ReadThe Wind Cannot Read is a 1958 British drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, Yoko Tani, Ronald Lewis and John Fraser...
dir. Ralph ThomasRalph ThomasRalph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....
- Suzuki-san (Sabby) - 1959 (E. Germany/Poland) : Der schweigende Stern/Milcząca Gwiazda - The Silent Star/First Spaceship on Venus dir. Kurt MaetzigKurt MaetzigKurt Maetzig is an East German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in the GDR. He is one of the most respected filmmakers of East Germany. He currently lives in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and has three children....
& Hieronim Przybył - Sumiko Ogimura - 1959 (France/Italy/UK) : The Savage InnocentsThe Savage InnocentsThe Savage Innocents is a 1960 film, adapted from the novel Top of the World by Swiss writer Hans Rüesch.The screenplay was mainly written by its director, Nicholas Ray, who shot the film in the Canadian Arctic...
dir. Nicholas RayNicholas RayNicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
- Asiak - 1960 (UK) : Piccadilly Third StopPiccadilly Third StopPiccadilly Third Stop is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Terence Morgan, Yoko Tani, William Hartnell and Dennis Price...
dir. Wolf RillaWolf RillaWolf Rilla was a film director and writer of German background, although he worked mainly in English.He worked on both versions of Village of the Damned, in the first as director and in the second as a writer....
- Seraphina Yokami - 1961 (Italy/France) : Ursus e la ragazza Tartara - Ursus and the Daughter of the Tartars dir. Remigio Del Grosso - Princess Ila
- 1961 (Italy) : Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan - Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World dir. Riccardo FredaRiccardo FredaRiccardo Freda was an Egyptian-born Italian film director. Best known for his horror and thriller movies, Freda had no great love for the horror films he was assigned, but rather favored the epic sword and sandal pictures...
- Princess Lei Ling - 1962 (Italy/France) : Marco Polo dirs. Hugo FregoneseHugo FregoneseHugo Fregonese was an Argentine film director who worked both in Hollywood and in Argentina....
, Piero Pierotti - Princess Amurroy - 1962 (USA/Japan) : My GeishaMy GeishaMy Geisha is a 1962 American comedy film directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Yves Montand, Shirley MacLaine, and Edward G. Robinson, and released by Paramount Pictures...
dir. Jack CardiffJack CardiffJack Cardiff, OBE, BSC was a British cinematographer, director and photographer.His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor to filmmaking in the 21st century...
- Kazumi Ito - 1962 (Canada) : The Sweet and the Bitter dir. James ClavellJames ClavellJames Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
, released 1967 - Mary Ota - 1963 (USA) : Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? is a 1963 movie comedy starring Dean Martin, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Carol Burnett, and directed by Daniel Mann.-Plot:...
dir. Daniel MannDaniel MannDaniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...
- Isami Hiroti - 1964 (Italy) : F.B.I. - Operazione Baalbek dir. Hugo FregoneseHugo FregoneseHugo Fregonese was an Argentine film director who worked both in Hollywood and in Argentina....
& Giuliano Carnimeo - Asia - 1964 (W. Germany) : Die Todesstrahlen des Dr. Mabuse dir. Hugo FregoneseHugo FregoneseHugo Fregonese was an Argentine film director who worked both in Hollywood and in Argentina....
- Mercedès - 1964 (Italy) : Bianco, Rosso, Giallo, Rosa dir. Massimo Mida - Yoko
- 1965 (Italy/France) : OSS 77 – Operazione fior di loto dir. Bruno Paolinelli
- 1965 (Italy) : Agente Z 55, missione disperata dir. Roberto Bianchi Montero - Su Ling
- 1965 (UK) : InvasionInvasion (1965 film)Invasion is a 1965 low-budget British sci-fi film, directed by Alan Bridges for producer Jack Greenwood of Merton Park Studios.The film was written by Roger Marshall from a storyline by Robert Holmes who later re-used the story for the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who episode Spearhead from Space.It tells...
dir. Alan BridgesAlan BridgesAlan Bridges is an English film and television director. He directed 40 films and television programmes between 1961 and 1991. He won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival for his film The Hireling...
- Chief of the "Lystrians" - 1966 (Italy) : Le spie amano i fiori dir. Umberto LenziUmberto LenziUmberto Lenzi , is an Italian film director who was very active in low budget crime films, peplums, spaghetti westerns, war movies, cannibal films and giallo murder mysteries ....
- Mei Lang - 1967 (Italy) : Le sette cinesi d'oro dir. Vincenzo Cascino - a Japanese woman
- 1969 (Spain/Italy) : Goldsnake 'Anonima Killers' dir. Ferdinando BaldiFerdinando BaldiFerdinando Baldi was an Italian film director, film producer and screenwriter. He was born on 19 May 1927 in Cava dei Tirreni, in the Province of Salerno.-Career:...
- Annie Wong - 1977 (Brazil) : O Estripador de Mulheres dir. Juan Bajon
- 1978 (France) : Ça fait tilt! dir. André HunebelleAndré HunebelleAndré Hunebelle was a French director born September 1, 1896 in Meudon , died 27 November 1985 in Nice .Hunebelle was a former publisher of a French newspaper called La Fleché...
- Youyou
Television
- 1960 (UK) : Chasing the Dragon - BBC television (scriptwriter Colin Morris)
- 1961 (UK) : RashomonRashomon (play)Though Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon is the most famous instance, Akutagawa's stories have also been adapted for the stage.- Source material :...
- BBC television adaptation - The Wife - 1962 (USA) : Ben CaseyBen CaseyBen Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
- episode "A Pleasant Thing for the Eyes" - Aiko Tanaka - 1963 (UK) : Edgar Wallace MysteriesEdgar Wallace MysteriesThe Edgar Wallace Mysteries was a low-budget film series made as second features.They were produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated between 1960 and 1965...
- episode 31, "The Partner" (based on A Million Dollar Story (1926)) dir. Gerard GlaisterGerard GlaisterJohn Leslie "Gerard" Glaister DFC, was a British television producer and director best known for his work with the BBC. Amongst his most notable successes as a TV producer were Colditz, The Brothers, Secret Army and Howards' Way.After studying at RADA, Glaister made his West End debut in 1939...
- Lin Siyan - 1964 (UK) : Drama - episode "Miss Hanago" - Miss Hanago
- 1966 (UK) : Armchair TheatreArmchair TheatreArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
- Associated British Corp. - episode "The Tilted Screen" - Michiko - 1967 (UK) : Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
- ITV; season 4, episode 1, "Koroshi" - Ako Nakamura - 1967 (UK) : Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
- ITV; season 4, episode 2, "Shinda Shima" - Miho - 1967 (UK) : Man in a SuitcaseMan in a SuitcaseMan in a Suitcase is a 1967 television series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.-Origins and overview:Man in a Suitcase was effectively a replacement for Danger Man, whose production had been curtailed when its star Patrick McGoohan had decided to create his own series, The Prisoner...
- ITV; episode 5, "Variation on a Million Bucks pt. 1" - Taiko - 1967 (UK) : Man in a SuitcaseMan in a SuitcaseMan in a Suitcase is a 1967 television series produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.-Origins and overview:Man in a Suitcase was effectively a replacement for Danger Man, whose production had been curtailed when its star Patrick McGoohan had decided to create his own series, The Prisoner...
- ITV; episode 6, "Variation on a Million Bucks pt. 2" - Taiko - 1968 (France/Canada) : Les Dossiers de l'agence O - episode 10, "L'arrestation du musicien" - La stripteaseuse
- 1971 (USA/UK) : Shirley's WorldShirley's WorldShirley's World was a television series aired first by American Broadcasting Company during the U.S. 1971-72 television season. The sitcom was co-produced by the British ATV Network and American producer Sheldon Leonard; it starred Shirley MacLaine as a photojournalist and John Gregson as her...
- episode 3, "The Defective Defector" - Okiyo - 1972 (France/Québéc) : Le fils du ciel - Gisèle
- 1986 (France) : Série rose (erotic anthology) - episode "Le lotus d'or" - Madame Lune
Theatre
- 1955 (France) : La petite maison de thé adapted by Albert Husson - Théâtre MontparnasseThéâtre MontparnasseThe Théâtre Montparnasse is a theater at 31, rue de la Gaîté in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.-History:The present structure was built in 1886 on a site that had been dedicated to theatre since 1817...
- le Lotus Bleu - 1965 (UK) : The Professor by Hal PorterHal PorterHarold Edward Porter was an Australian novelist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.Porter was born in Albert Park, Victoria, grew up in Bairnsdale, Victoria and worked as a journalist, teacher and librarian. A car accident just before the outbreak of war prevented him from serving in World...
, Royal Court TheatreRoyal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
- Fusehime Ishimoto (housemaid) - 1967 (France) : Une femme à louer by François Campaux, mise en scène Christian Alers, Théâtre de la Potinière