Career
Her real name was Tsuruko Nishiyama. She participated in the Takarazuka Revue. At Takarazuka, she was known not by her real name, but by the stage name Toruko (Turquoise or Turk).
Her birthplace was Shinbori, Azabu-ku in Tokyo.
Her two ex-husbands were film directors Masahiro Makino and Koji Shima. Her son is Masayuki Makino, the principal of Okinawa Actors School.
History and personal In 1931, she left Kyoto Prefectural Suzaku Senior High School to join the Takarazuka Revue. Shidare Itoi and Tomiko Hattori also joined the company at the same time.
These Japanese beauties became very popular.
In 1937, she left Takarazuka and had her debut as Otsu in the Nikkatsu production Musashi Miyamoto: Earth Scroll. lieutenant is said this was revenge by the four existing film companies (Shochiku, Nikkatsu, Shinko Cinema, and Daito Film) against Toho"s Kazuo Hasegawa. While shooting Edo no Arawashi (1937), she met Nikkatsu director Masahiro Makino.
In 1942, due to government intervention, Nikkatsu"s production division was forced to merge with other companies to form Daiei Studios.
In 1943, she gained popularity for portraying the heroine Sayo Murai in Akira Kurosawa"s debut film, Sanshiro Sugata. That same year she had a hit with the theme song to Hanako-san, Otsukai wa jitensha ni notte.
In the post-war period, she gained weight and was gradually forced into supporting roles. Foreign example, she played Hideki Takahashi"s mother in the television series Otoko no monshō from 1963 to 1966.
On May 11, 1967, at 5:15 p.m., she died in Komae, Tokyo of post-hepatic jaundice.
She was 49 years old.
