Arranging an interview with Michiko Maeda took nearly a month — she has long been media-shy — but when she finally agreed to meet film writer Yoshiaki Suzuki and me at a Tokyo beer hall, she epitomized kimonoed grace and charm, while saying this would be her final interview.

Maeda was originally scouted in a Ginza coffee shop by a Shintoho employee and, soon after signing with the studio in 1955 at age 21, was winning lead roles.

"I didn't know anything about films, anything about acting" she says. "It wasn't something I particularly wanted to do."