Native Name: | 松本 典子 |
Native Name Lang: | ja |
Birth Date: | 9 August 1935 |
Birth Place: | Tokyo, Japan |
Death Place: | Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
Years Active: | 1954–2001 |
, known professionally as, was a Japanese actress and stage director. She and her husband, playwright Kunio Shimizu, were co-founders of the stage company Mokutōsha.
Kazuko Shimizu was born on 9 August 1935 in Tokyo. and educated at Ohtani Gakuen and the Haiyuza Theatre Company training school. She joined the Mingei Theatre Company in 1959.[1]
After her debut in Kiyomi Hotta's 1954 production of Shima, Matsumoto began appearing in stage productions, including Jukichi Uno's production of Three Sisters.[2] In 1976, she and her husband Kunio Shimizu were among the co-founders of the stage company Mokutōsha, where she later worked as a leading actor and in the 1990s began working as a director. Her last performance was at the June 2001 production of Joyū N. Outside of the stage, also had some film and television credits, including as Fumiko in The Warped Ones.[3]
Matsumoto won two : in 1979 for her performances in Mokutōsha's production of Gakuya and Janjan's production of Jochū-tachi; and in 1984 for her performance in Mokutōsha's production of Love Letter: Ai to Hi no Seishin Bunseki.[4] She was awarded a 1987 Award for her performance at .[5]
Following a month of hospitalization, Matsumoto died on 26 March 2014 of interstitial pneumonia at a hospital in Setagaya, aged 78.[6] Her funeral was restricted to close relatives, with Shimizu serving as the chief mourner.