Kirin Kiki

Kirin Kiki
  

Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林, Kiki Kirin) (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress for Japanese cinema and television.

Biography
Kiki was born on January 15, 1943, in Kanda, Tokyo. Her father was a master of the biwa lute and a former police officer. Her mother owned a cafe in Jinbōchō, Tokyo and a restaurant in Noge, Yokohama, the latter being Kiki's maternal parents' home. Her mother was seven years senior to her father and had a child from both her two previous marriages.

After graduating from high school, she started her acting career in the early 1960s as a member of the Bungakuza theater troupe using the stage name Chiho Yūki (悠木千帆). She eventually gained fame for performing uniquely comedic and eccentric roles on such television shows as Jikan desu yo and Terauchi Kantarō ikka and in television commercials. She changed her name to "Kirin Kiki" when, after being asked on a television show to auction off something of hers, she ended up selling her first stage name, claiming she had "nothing else to sell."

While battling various ailments, including a detached retina in 2003 and breast cancer in 2005, Kiki continued to act and won several awards,...More about Kirin Kiki...


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