Momoko Kōchi (河内 桃子, Kōchi Momoko) (7 March 1932 – 5 November 1998), born Momoko Ōkōchi (大河内 桃子, Ōkōchi Momoko), was a Japanese film, stage and television actress.[1]
She is best known for her roles in the original Godzilla, playing the character of Emiko Yamane (a role she reprised in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in 1995), and in The Mysterians, playing Hiroko Iwamoto.[2]
Kōchi's paternal grandfather was Viscount Masatoshi Ōkōchi, the third director of Riken; her father, a painter, was the second son of Masatoshi.[3][4][5] Her husband, television producer Sadataka Hisamatsu, with whom she had a daughter,[6] was descended from the Hisamatsu-Matsudaira clan who ruled over the Imabari Domain.[7]
After graduating from Japan Women's University's affiliated high school, Kōchi worked as an office lady,[9] but she joined Toho through their "New Face" program in April 1953,[10] along with Akira Takarada, Kenji Sahara, Yū Fujiki, and Masumi Okada (who later moved to Nikkatsu). Her first role was in A Woman's Heart Released (女心はひと筋に, Onna gokoro wa hitosuji ni) as Yaeko. One year later, she acted in movies directed by Kajirō Yamamoto.
It was in one of Yamamoto's movies that his protégé, Ishirō Honda, saw Kōchi while he was making a science fiction film, Godzilla, with a topical storyline. Honda chose her to play the main female role of Emiko Yamane. While her role served as the center of the movie's romantic subplot, it provided the purpose for the resolution of the main story. Even though she was inexperienced as an actress at the time, her role was excellent as she hoped for, and she did very well in it.
After her success in Godzilla, Kōchi was typecast in other science fiction and kaiju films, including Half Human and The Mysterians. She left Toho in 1958 to pursue her formal study of acting, which she did not receive upon early discovery in 1953.[citation needed]
One year after leaving Toho, Kōchi did her formal study of acting with Tsutomu Yamazaki and Kumi Mizuno and joined Haiyuza Theatre Company. She then debuted as a stage actress in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Her subsequent movie appearances have been reduced as a result and she mostly performed on stage (including The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth), while occasionally performing in television commercials as well as drama (including her role as Shōko Tsunashi in Thank You (ありがとう, Arigatō) from 1972 to 1973 with co-star Kiyoshi Kodama).[citation needed]
Kōchi made some appearances on TBS drama specials produced by Fukuko Ishii and written by Sugako Hashida. During her later years, she appeared as Toshiko Takahashi, a woman with Alzheimer's disease, in Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari (渡る世間は鬼ばかり), with Kunihiko Mitamura.[citation needed] She also made some appearances in two-hour dramas such as Doyō waido gekijō (土曜ワイド劇場).[citation needed]
In 1995, Takao Okawara offered Kōchi the chance to reprise her role as Emiko Yamane in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Although Otawara was used to working with younger actors, he was impressed by Kōchi's complete training and concentration. All of her scenes were completed in one day, and her cameo appearance attracted the public throughout Japan. She later recounted her appearance in an interview with CNN: "After the first Godzilla movie people pointed at me saying, 'Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla.' As a young woman I hated Godzilla, so I thought, 'no more Godzilla for me.' But 41 years later I watched the film again and realized how great it was for its anti-nuclear theme."[11]
On 19 July 1997, Kōchi's last film, Ryōkan (良寛), was released. Two days later, on 21 July, she made a guest appearance in a TBS Monday Drama Special, Enka Shōtarō no ninjō jiken nisshi (演歌・唱太郎の人情事件日誌).[citation needed]
Later in the same year, Kōchi toured the Tōhoku region with Haiyuza for performances of Yu no noren (ゆの暖簾). During the tour, she complained about her poor health, and she was diagnosed with colon cancer in January 1998. Her cancer spread rapidly, and she did not undergo surgery at the time of diagnosis. One year earlier, on 15 December, her final performance was in Tsuruoka, Yamagata.[citation needed]
Kōchi continued her hospitalisation until she died on 5 November 1998 at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center in Hiroo, Shibuya from colon cancer at the age of 66.[12] On 29 October, a week before her death, she was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church under her baptismal name of "Maria" by Father Masahiro Kondō of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Her funeral was held on 9 November at St. Ignatius Church.[13] Her grave is at Yanaka Cemetery in Taitō.[14]
Due to Kōchi's roles in Catholic religious radio programs including Light of the Heart (心のともしび, Kokoro no Tomoshibi) and Taiyō no hohoemi (太陽のほほえみ), she was congratulated by Pope John Paul II with two awards in 1996.[13]
