Akiko Wakabayashi
Akiko Wakabayashi (born December 13, 1939 in Ōta, Tokyo) is a Japanese actress, best known in English-speaking countries for her role as Bond girl, Aki in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Prior to this, she made many movies in her native Japan, especially Toho Studio's monster movies such as Dagora, the Space Monster and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (both of which were also released under various other titles). When production of You Only Live Twice began, Wakabayashi was originally slated to play the role of Kissy Suzuki whilst her co-star Mie Hama played Suki, one of Tiger Tanaka's top agents. When learning English proved to be a major hurdle to Hama, the women switched roles, with Hama now playing the smaller part of Kissy and Wakabayashi playing the larger part of Suki. Wakabayashi, as Aki in the movie You Only Live Twice. At her suggestion, the character of Suki was renamed to Aki. This is probably partly because[citation needed] in 1966, Woody Allen took the Japanese action film International Secret Police: Key of Keys (in which both Mie Hama and Wakabayashi starred), re-edited, re-dubbed, re-plotted, and renamed it What's Up, Tiger Lily?. In the film, Wakabayashi's character was "Suki Yaki" whereas her You Only Live Twice co-star Hama played "Teri Yaki". Wakabayashi made only one more film (and a guest TV appearance) before disappearing from both the big and small screen. In an interview in G-FAN magazine (No. 76), Wakabayashi said she retired from acting due to injuries sustained while making a movie. Description above from the Wikipedia article Akiko Wakabayashi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Credits
- 2006 · The Exotic Locations of 'You Only Live Twice' as Aki (archive footage)
- 2002 · Best Ever Bond as Aki (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1972 · Shirley's World as
- 1968 · Diamonds of the Andes as
- 1967 · You Only Live Twice as Aki
- 1966 · What's Up, Tiger Lily? as Suki Yaki
- 1966 · Arupusu no wakadaishô as
- 1966 · Adventure in Kigan Castle as Spuria, Chamberlain's daughter
- 1966 · The Thin Line as Sayuri Sugimoto
- 1965 · Key of Keys as Bai-Lan
- 1964 · Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster as Mas Selina Salno
- 1964 · A Keg of Powder as Girl Taken at Haneda
- 1964 · Dogora as Gang Moll
- 1964 · こんにちは赤ちゃん as Shizuko Nagata
- 1963 · Samurai Pirate as Yaya's maid
- 1963 · Interpol Code 8 as
- 1963 · King Kong vs. Godzilla as Tamiye (uncredited)
- 1962 · The Weed of Crime as
- 1962 · Gekkyū dorobō as
- 1962 · Sararīman Gonza to Sukejū ren'ai kōsa-ten as
- 1962 · Wakai kisetsu as
- 1962 · Our Failures as
- 1962 · King Kong vs. Godzilla as Tamiye
- 1962 · Pig and Goldfish as
- 1962 · Ai no uzu shio as
- 1962 · The Crimson Sky as
- 1962 · Kanpai! Sararīman shokun as
- 1961 · Acchan no bebi gyangu as Midori
- 1961 · Girl from Hong Kong as Anna Suh
- 1961 · Akiko as Akiko
- 1960 · The Orientals as
- 1960 · When a Woman Ascends the Stairs as Hostess
- 1959 · The Beast Shall Die as Hostess at the Rollita B
- 1958 · Song for a Bride as