Chisako Hara (原知佐子, Hara Chisako; 6 January 1936 – 19 January 2020) was a Japanese actress best known for starring in the Akai and the Kishibe no arubamu series.
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Biography
Chisako Hara was born Chisako Tahara (田原知佐子, Tahara Chisako) on 6 January 1936 in Takaoka Town (now Tosa), Kōchi Prefecture. She gave her film debut at the Shintoho studios in 1956, but later moved to Toho, where she had a starring role in Kinuyo Tanaka's Girls of the Night (1961) and smaller parts in films of Mikio Naruse and Shirō Toyoda. In the early 1960s, she became a freelancer and also started appearing on television. During the 1970s, she became famous for her roles in the Akai and Kishibe no arubamu TV series.
Hara was married to director Akio Jissōji from 1963 to 2006 (his death) and also starred in many of his films. In the 2017 book Heretic Film History: The World of Shintoho, Hara discussed her years at the Shintoho studio with Noriko Kitazawa and others.
Her final film appearance was in Spring 2019 in Nosari no shima, which was released after her death in 2021. She died at the age of 84 on 19 January 2020 in a Tokyo hospital of maxillary cancer.
Selected filmography
Film
1960: The Approach of Autumn
1961: Girls of the Night
1964: Pale Flower
1967: The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
1971: The Ceremony
1998: Wait and See
1998: Murder on D Street
2001: Lily Festival
2002: Dark Water
2021: Nosari no shima
Television
1974–2016: Ultra Series
1975–1977: Akai Series
1977: Kishibe no arubamu