Kyoko Kagawa is among the fast dwindling number of living witnesses to Japanese cinema's Golden Age of the 1950s and '60s.

In a career that started in 1949 with the Shintoho studio, Kagawa worked with the giants of the era, including Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi and Mikio Naruse. And she appeared in films that have since become regarded worldwide as classics, such as 1953's "Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story)," 1954's "Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff)" and 1963's "Tengoku to Jigoku (High and Low)."

To her natural vitality, intelligence and charm she added a sterling work ethic that served her well in the ensuing decades.