桃子 (大河内) 久松 (1932 - 1998)

Born 7 Mar 1932 in 日本東京府

Ancestors

Died 5 Nov 1998 at age 66 in 日本東京都

Biography

桃子 (大河内) 久松 is Notable.

Ōkōchi Momoko, who would later be well known by her stage name of Kōchi Momoko, was born in Tokyo, Japan, on 7 March 1932. She was the daughter of Ōkōchi Nobuhiro, a painter, and Chieko. Her grandfather Masatoshi served as the director of Riken from 1921 to 1946. Momoko was a member of a branch of the Ōkōchi-Matsudaira family which ruled the Yoshida Domain.

After graduating from high school, Momoko was an office lady until she was discovered by Toho through its New Face program in 1953. Her first role with Toho was in A Woman's Heart Released. Throughout 1954, she acted in movies directed by Yamamoto Kajirō. Momoko's most famous role that year, however, was in Godzilla, which was directed by Honda Ishirō.

After Godzilla's later success in Japan and in the United States as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Momoko was typecast in other science fiction films, including The Mysterians, in 1957. She left Toho in 1958 to pursue a formal acting career.

Momoko debuted as a stage actress in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. She eventually acted in other plays and in television dramas as well as a few subsequent films.

Momoko married a television producer and a member of the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira family of Imabari Domain in 1961. She had a daughter in 1963 during her marriage.

In 1995, she made a short cameo appearance in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. However, her final film appearance was in Ryōkan in 1997.

She also acted in radio plays, including Kokoro no Tomoshibi, for which she won papal awards from Pope John Paul II. While being hospitalised for colon cancer, for which she was diagnosed in January 1998, she asked her daughter to arrange for her baptism. On 29 October, she was baptised under the name of "Maria."

Momoko died in Tokyo on 5 November 1998, at the age of 66. Her funeral mass was celebrated on November 9 at St. Ignatius Church. She was interred at Yanaka Cemetery in Tokyo.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ "河内桃子." Yanaka Cemetery. Accessed 26 Apr 2017.

• "Brasil, Cartões de Imigração, 1900-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V13W-X73 : 5 August 2017), Momoko Okochi, Immigration; citing 1957, Arquivo Nacional, Rio de Janeiro (National Archives, Rio de Janeiro).

See also:

• Wikipedia: Momoko Kōchi
• Wikidata: Item Q3074303, ja:Wikipedia