Reiko Ohara

Reiko Ohara (Japanese: 大原 麗子, Hepburn: Ōhara Reiko, November 13, 1946 – August 3, 2009) was a Japanese actress. She is best known for her roles in the taiga dramas Kasuga the Court Lady (1989) and Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1998), television drama Rikon Tomodachi (1980), and film Ohan (1984). Her life was adapted into the television drama Actress Reiko: Like a Flame in 2013.

Reiko Ohara
大原 麗子
Ohara for the April 1965 issue of Movie Pictorial
Born	(1946-11-12)November 12, 1946 Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
Died	August 3, 2009(2009-08-03) (aged 62) Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1964–2009
Spouses	Tsunehiko Watase ​ ​ (m. 1973; div. 1978)​ Shinichi Mori ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1984)​

Biography

Early life

Ohara was born on November 13, 1946,^[1] in Bunkyō, Tokyo to a family that sold Japanese confectionery in the Hongō area.^[2] When she was eight, her parents divorced due to her father's affair; she and her mother moved to Akabane while her younger brother stayed with their father.^{[citation needed]}

Career

She was scouted by Nao Ōno, the president of Tokyo Broadcasting and the eldest son of Banboku Ōno.^[3] She had a bit part in Let's Meet in a Dream in 1962, though she made her debut two years later in Happiness Exam and joined Toei the year after that. Alongside Yuki Jōno, who had joined Toei around the same time, she was promoted as Toei's most popular new actress, and became popular in 1966 with the Golden Week film Abashiri Prison: Showdown in the WIlderness, starring Ken Takakura.^[4] Around this period Toei began producing "delinquent sensitivity films",^[5] making most of Ohara's roles bar hostesses or prostitutes.^[2][4][6] In 1971, when her contract with Toei expired, she transferred to Watanabe Productions.^[7] However, in February 1972, when announcing Ohara's engagement with Tsunehiko Watase, Sports Nippon referred to her as a Toei actress, and Shigeru Okada, then president of Toei, told the press that the couple were "our company's leading stars" and that he looks forward to working with them in the future. Ohara had first co-starred with Watase in Three Bees in 1970.^[8] She married Watase in 1973 and they divorced five years later.^[1] In 1975, Ohara was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome.^[9]

Since then, Ohara changed her focus to television dramas, playing the role of a "moist Japanese beauty",^[10] alongside roles such as a femme fatale in Ohan.^[2] Ohara appeared in a Suntory advertisement for their Red whisky, where she wore a kimono and said in a hoarse voice "Love me a little, love me a lot", which was well-loved^[1] and aired from 1980 to 1990.^[2] Ohara married enka singer Shinichi Mori in 1980. In 2019, Ohara's brother said that Mori had wanted children, and Ohara became pregnant two years into their marriage, but had an abortion to prioritize her work.^[11] During her press conference for their divorce in 1984, she said it was because she did not want to quit her job, and that "there were two men at home".^[1] Following the divorce, she changed name to Reiko Iizuka (飯塚 麗子, Iizuka Reiko), taking her mother's surname.^[12] Ohara had a ¥300,000,000 (equivalent to ¥354,269,663 in 2019) mansion built in Okamoto, Setagaya, in 1986, and began living there with her mother.^{[citation needed]} In 1989, Ohara starred in the taiga drama Kasuga the Court Lady as Lady Kasuga, which garnered a rating of 32.4%, the third highest ever for a taiga drama.^[1]

Later life

Ohara underwent surgery for breast cancer in 1994.^[13] She had double eyelid surgery in 1999, but it failed, and her eyelids became swollen, causing her to drop Amagi Goe 2;^[14] she later underwent revision surgery. In November 1999, Ohara suspended her activities due to the reoccurrence of her Guillain–Barré syndrome. During this time, her doctor passed away. She had a possible reoccurrence of the syndrome in November 2008, when she fell at home, fracturing her right wrist and bruising her knee.^[13] The fall was possibly because of a loss of balance due to the syndrome;^[15] specialists have said that recurrences of the disease are rare.^[16]

Death and legacy

On August 6, 2009, Ohara was found dead in her home after worried relatives had contacted the police. The autopsy estimated her death to have been three days prior, with the cause as an intracerebral hemorrhage.^[17] On August 23, a farewell party was held by Mitsuko Mori, Fukuko Ishii, Ruriko Asaoka and others at Aoyama Funeral Home.^[18] It was attended by Oharu's ex-husbands as well as other celebrities. The eulogy was given by Asaoka.^[19]

In July 2011, a biography of Ohara written by Tadaaki Maeda and edited by Masamitsu Ohara, her younger brother, titled Reiko Ohara: Like a Flame was published. It was adapted into the television drama Actress Reiko: Like a Flame (女優麗子～炎のように, Joyū Reiko: Honō no yō ni) in 2013, with Rina Uchiyama starring as Ohara.^[20]

Filmography

Film

• Iro (1965)
• Kamo (1965) – Yuki Murai
• Abashiri bangaichi: Hokkai hen (1965)
• Yoru no mesuinu (1966)
• Hikô shôjo Yôko (1966) – Ako
• Otoko nante nanisa (1966) – Miki
• Abashiri bangaichi: Kettô reika 30 do (1967) – Michiko
• Kigeki: Kyûkô ressha (1967)
• Kawachi yûkyôden (1967) – Miyo Sugimoto
• Maruhi toruko buro (1968)
• Ôoku emaki (1968) – Omachi
• Ah, yokaren (1968)
• Iro (1969) – Hatsue Uehara
• Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970) – Okiyo
• Keiken (1970)
• Kigeki Kaiun ryokô (1971)
• Furyo bancho te haccho kuchi haccho (1971)
• Erotica iro-gassen (1972) – Geisha
• Gokumon-to (1977) – Sanae, Chimata's Cousin
• Shogun's Samurai (1978) – Izumo no Okuni
• Hi no tori (1978) – Hinaku
• Talk of the Town Tora-san (1978) – Sanae
• Sekando rabu (1983) – Kazumi Hyuga
• Izakaya Chōji (1983) – Sayo Kamiya
• Ohan (1984) – Okayo
• Tora-san's Forbidden Love (1984) – Fujiko Tominaga
• Big Joys, Small Sorrows (1986) – Asako
• Shôrishatachi (1992) – Keiko Kunitomo

Television

• Taiyō ni Hoero! (1973, NTV, Guest) – Kyoko Harada
• NHK Taiga drama
  • Katsu Kaishū (1974)
  • Sanga Moyu (1984)
  • Kasuga no Tsubone (1989) – Ofuku
  • Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1998) – Ren

References

1. 癒やしのヒロイン大原麗子さん、2度の結婚に破れ… [Reiko Ohara, the healing heroine, is devastated by her two marriages...]. Zakzak. August 7, 2009. Archived from the original on August 29, 2015.
2. 日本の女優 100人 [100 Japanese Actresses]. Bessatsu Takarajima (in Japanese). Takarajimasha. p. 24.
3. セクシー・ダイナマイト猛爆撃 [Sexy Dynamite Bombing] (in Japanese). Yosensha. 1997. pp. 257–258, 280–289. ISBN 4-89691-258-6.
4. 不況克服に新人スター開発 ★各社救世主女優を待望★ [Developing New Stars to Overcome Recession ★Every Company Waits for a Savior Actress★]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). June 3, 1966. p. 114.
5. Kurosawa, Kiyoshi; Yomota, Inuhiko; Yoshimi, Toshiya (2010). 日本映画とやくざ、あるいは『不良性感度映画』の時代 文・内藤誠 [Japanese Cinema and the Era of Yakuza or 'Delinquent Sensitive Films' Text by Makoto Naito]. Japanese Cinema is Alive (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Iwanami Shoten. pp. 267–268. ISBN 978-4-00-028394-6.
6. Maeda (2011), pp. 127, 130.
7. 日本映画俳優全集・女優編 [Complete Works of Japanese Movie Actors/Actresses] (in Japanese). Kinema Junposha. 1980. pp. 142–143.
8. 渋谷、青山で食べ歩きデート渡瀬恒彦・大原麗子が婚約発表 今秋には式を… 『彼女のすべてが好きです』 [Eating-while-walking date in Shibuya and Aoyama, Tsunehiko Watase and Reiko Ohara will announce the engagement this fall ... "I like all of her"]. Sports Nippon. February 15, 1972. p. 10.
9. Kamoshita, Shinichi (October 2009). 追悼・大原麗子 長く愛された『女優の素顔』 [Memorial: Reiko Ohara: 'The True Face of an Actress' That Was Loved a Lot]. Bungei Shunju. pp. 208–209.
10. Maeda (2011), pp. 128–130.
11. 「女」ではなく「女優」として生きた…なぜ、大原麗子は孤独死を迎えたのか？ [She lived as an "actress" rather than a "woman"...Why did Reiko Ohara die alone?]. FNN. June 20, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
12. 故・大原麗子さん 95歳最愛の母「娘の墓には入らない」家族の確執 [Late Reiko Ohara's 95-year-old beloved mother says "I won't enter my daughter's grave" Family feud]. Josei Jishin (in Japanese). Retrieved September 29, 2023.
13. Nomura, Shoji (August 17, 2009). 大原麗子さん、死亡数日後に発見 [Reiko Ohara, discovered a few days after her death]. Aera. Asahi Shimbun. p. 25.
14. 真木よう子「お騒がせ女優」の歴史を振り返るとまだまだ挽回の余地あり [Looking back at the history of Yoko Maki's "Trouble Actress", there is still room for recovery]. Weekly Women's PRIME (in Japanese). October 17, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
15. 大原麗子に難病再発！転倒し手首骨折していた [Reiko Ohara has a recurrence of her incurable disease! She had fallen and broken her wrist]. Sponichi Annex (in Japanese). November 15, 2008. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
16. 追悼特集 『ながーく愛して』 大原麗子の声が聞こえる [Memorial Special: 'Love Me Forever': I Hear Reiko Ohara's Voice]. Shūkan Gendai. August 29, 2009. pp. 160–161. Comments from Shinichi Kamoshita and Takako Miwa, Director of Miwa Internal Medicine Clinic.
17. 大原麗子さん　ひっそりと、天国へ…親族、友人のみでお別れ [Reiko Ohara goes to heaven quietly... Farewell only with her relatives and friends]. Sports Hochi. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009.
18. 大原麗子さんに友人らが最期のお別れ [Reiko Ohara's friends say their final goodbyes]. Sanspo. August 23, 2009. Archived from the original on September 27, 2009.
19. Asaoka, Ruriko (2009). 追悼・大原麗子 わが妹麗子への手紙 弔辞全文 [In Memoriam: Reiko Ohara: Letter to My Sister Reiko, Full Text of Condolences]. Bungei Shunju (in Japanese). pp. 206–207.
20. 内山理名が大原麗子さん役に決定！大原麗子の人生をドラマ化「女優 麗子 炎のように」 [Rina Uchiyama has been chosen to play Reiko Ohara! Drama adaptation of Reiko Ohara's life Actress Reiko: Like a Flame]. Cinema Today (in Japanese). January 15, 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

• Maeda, Tadaaki (July 19, 2011). Ōhara, Masamitsu (ed.). 大原麗子 炎のように [Reiko Ohara: Like a Flame] (in Japanese). ISBN 978-4-905042-25-9.

External links

• Ohara Reiko at IMDb
• JMDb Profile (in Japanese)