Celebrity Biographies
Setsuko Hara
She was considered a myth in Japan, after making a “Greta Garbo”, because she retired at the age of 43, and has lived since then in absolute anonymity, without granting interviews or appearing at public events. So much so that she passed away on September 5, 2015, but the news did not come out until a month and a half later. Setsuko Hara worked with first-rate Japanese filmmakers, but her six collaborations with Yasujiro Ozu stand out, including the director’s best films.
Born on June 17, 1920 in Yokohama, on the island of Honshu, the most important in the Japanese archipelago, Masae Aida (real name of the actress) was an exemplary daughter. She made her film debut at the age of 15, in Tamerau nakare wakodo yo , Tetsu Taguchi’s forgotten drama. She soon became a furor in the industry of her country, due to her good work and distinguished beauty with westernized features, so that in the hard post-war years she became a great star.
At that time, the great directors of the country of the rising sun were taking off, who took advantage of their shocking naturalness. An almost novice Akira Kurosawa recruited her for I Don’t Miss My Youth , where he was uncredited, and later for The Idiot , one of her great films. With Mikio Naruse she shot Voice from the Mountain and Lunch . Of the greatest, she only missed putting herself under the orders of Kenji Mizoguchi , for reasons that Japanese moviegoers cannot explain.
But the director with whom he worked the most times was Yasuhiro Ozu , with whom he played traditional Japanese women, beginning with Late Spring , in 1949, followed by Early Summer , and above all, Tales from Tokyo , perhaps the best title of the filmmaker, where her character, the widow of the military son of the elderly protagonists, has remained to be remembered as an example of personal sacrifice. She collaborated with the director again on Twilight in Tokyo , Late Autumn and finally on Autumn of the Kohayagawa Family , from 1961.
She never married, at least while she had a public life, when she was popularly known as the Eternal Virgin, in Japan, where she was considered an example of morality and dedication to the family. During the 50s, she had a hard time, because she contracted an illness that prevented her from taking on various roles, and above all, she was affected by the death of her brother, also dedicated to cinema as a cameraman.
He couldn’t take it anymore when his great teacher, Ozu, passed away in 1963. Shortly after this sad event, at 43 years old, and considered one of Japan’s great celebrities, Setsuko Hara shocked the entire country when she announced that she was retiring from the screen to dedicate herself completely to her family. Since then she lived in a small house in Kamakura, where she lived away from the spotlight, although apparently she was a very sociable person who carried out numerous activities with her friends and personal circle. She declined every role she was offered over the years, and any information about her personal life during this period is unknown.