Setsuko takahashi biography for kids

Puncturing the Legend

Some years before Hara Setsuko’s death in 2015, writer Ishii Taeko’s editor asked her to solve the mystery of the Golden Age movie star’s retirement.

In 1962, Hara withdrew from the spotlight after her final screen appearance at the age of 42, and refused interviews for over half a century.

Ishii thought that in her nineties Hara might be willing to look back on her life, and visited her Kamakura home on several occasions.

Each time, she was received politely by Hara’s nephew and his wife, who lived in the same house, but was never able to meet the actress herself. On Hara’s ninety-fifth birthday on June 17, 2015, Ishii brought flowers and a letter, and was told as usual that she was in good health.

Three months later, though, Hara passed away. Ishii’s book Hara Setsuko no shinjitsu (The Truth About Hara Setsuko) was published the following yea