Yōko Minamida

Yōko Minamida 南田 洋子 Minamida Yōko March 1 1933 October 21 2009 was a Japanese actress Born in Tokyo Minamida made her screen debut in 1953 for the Daiei studio and quickly rose to stardom working with Kenji Mizoguchi on two films A Story from Chikamatsu and Princess Yang Kweifei In 1955 she moved to the Nikkatsu studio where she starred in Takumi Furukawas Season of the Sun 1956 a smash hit that launched the socalled Sun Tribe boom for films about rebellious youth looking for sex and kicks on Shonan Beach Japans nearest equivalent to Malibu Minamida acted in dozens of movies for Nikkatsu working with Shohei Imamura Seijun Suzuki and other directors In 1961 she married her costar on Season of the Sun Hiroyuki Nagato As she acted in fewer movies after the mid1960s Minamida made a smooth and successful transition to TV as both an actress and MC She also continued to appear occasionally in movies with the last being Nobuhiko Obayashis Song of Goodbye in 2006 She was diagnosed with Alzheimers in November 2008 and a TV documentary was made about her condition and the efforts of her husband to care for her She died in Tokyo