Born in the City of Hakodate in Hokkaido in 1924, Hideko Takamine became the adopted daughter of her aunt at age 4 and moved to Tokyo. At the age of 5, while touring the Shochiku Kamata Film Studio, she caught the eye of a screening juror to the film “Haha”-Mother (1929), which was being filmed that day, and won a part in the motion picture. The film was a hit driving her to child stardom. Her screen name of Hideko Takamine was the name her adopted mother used as a narrator of silent films. Thereafter she would appear in many films such as “Tokyo No Korasu”-Tokyo Chorus (1931), directed by Yasujiro Ozu and “Hototogisu”(1932) directed by Heinosuke Gosho.
　 In 1937, Hideko Takamine changed film studios and joined P.C.L. Starting out as a child actress she would now start to play roles of young women. Her exceptional performance in “Tsuzurikata Kyoshitsu”-Composition Class, made this motion picture the first of many of her most important films. While increasing her popularity with such film “Hideko No Oendancho”-Hideko, the Cheerleader, she would also mark improvements in her acting with such motion pictures as “Uma”-Horse (1941).
　 After the Pacific War, she would appear in such Shin Toho films as “Ginza Kankan Musume”-Ginza Kankan Girl” (1949) and “Munekata Kyodai”- Munekata Sisters. In 1950, she would end her contract with her film company to work as a freelance actress. By appearing in “Karumen Kokyo Ni Kaeru”-Carmen Comes Home-directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, not only did she become an important actress for the director in his future films, but the director introduced her to Zenzo Matsuyama, his assistant director, who she would eventually marry.
　 In the 1950s during Japan’s golden era of motion pictures, Hideko Takamine would rise to become a top Japanese actress with star appearances in such masterpiece films as “Entotsu No Mieru Basho”-The Four Chimneys, directed by Heinosuke Gosho in 1953, “Nijushi No Hitomi”-Twenty-Four Eyes, and “Ukigumo”-Floating Clouds. She would also appear in other masterpiece films such as “Fuefukigawa”-The River Fuefuki, “Eien No Hito”-Immortal Love (1961), “Namonaku Mazushiku Utsukushiku”-Happiness of Us Alone, “Hanaoka Seishu No Tsuma”-The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka (1967) and “Kokotsu No Hito”-Senile Person (1973). After appearing in “Shodo Satsujin: Musuko Yo”- Impulse Murder (1979), Hideko Takamine announced her retirement from acting. Thereafter she would show her diverse talent in such areas as taking up master of ceremony positions in television programs and winning the 1976 Essayist Club Award with her literary work, “Watashi No Tosei Nikki”-My Professional Diary. Hideko Takmine, the great Japanese actress to be long remembered in the history of Japanese Cinema, died of lung cancer on December 28, 2010.