Sayoko Yamaguchi (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
: 山口小夜子, September 19, 1949 – August 14, 2007) was a Japanese model and actress.
Early life
Yamaguchi was born in Yokohama and graduated from
Sugino Gakuen's Dressmaker Gakuin design school in Tokyo.
Career
Yamaguchi broke into the international modeling industry in the 1970s.
She was one of the first Asian models to be featured in the world's top fashion shows and magazines. She made her debut in Paris in 1972,
and went on to work in New York City and other international cities.
In 1977,
''Newsweek'' named her one of the world's top six fashion models.
Also that year, she was featured on the cover of
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Originally having a traditional band lineup, Becker and Fagen cho ...
's ''
Aja'' album, photographed by
Hideki Fujii.
Yamaguchi went on to continue her career as a film and theater actress, as well as a costume designer.
[
]
Death
Yamaguchi died aged 57, on August 14, 2007, of acute pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
.[ In 2015, she was the subject of a posthumous documentary, ''Kōri no hanabi Sayoko Yamaguchi'' (Ice Fireworks Sayoko Yamaguchi).]
Filmography
* ''Carol'' (1974, documentary) – Self
* ''ピーターソンの鳥'' (''Peterson's Bird'') (1976) – Keiko
* ''杳子'' (''Yuko'') (1977) – Sayako
*''Lost Love'' (1978) – Asuka Yamazaki
* ''四季の追想'' (''Reminiscences of the Four Seasons'') (1979, short)
* ''Fashion'' (1980, TV), "Kansai in New York" – Self
*''Fruits of Passion
''Fruits of Passion'' (; ) is a 1981 French-Japanese co-production directed by Shūji Terayama and starring Klaus Kinski. The film is loosely based on the novel ''Retour à Roissy'' by Anne Desclos, written as a sequel to the ''Story of O''.
Pl ...
'' (1981) – Sakuya
*'' Rikyū'' (1989) – Chacha
*''石の花'' (''Stone Flowers'') (1989, documentary short) – Self
*''T-CITY'' (1993, video short) – Woman
*'' Pistol Opera'' (2001) – Sayoko Uekyo
*''Soundtrack'' (2002) – Red monster
*'' Matouqin Nocturne'' (2007) – Zarome
*''Kōri no hanabi Sayoko Yamaguchi'' (Ice Fireworks Sayoko Yamaguchi) (2015, posthumous documentary) – Self
References
External links
* Japanese Wikipedia page for Sayoko Yamaguchi
RTE: Japanese supermodel dies, aged 57
*
Kōri no hanabi Sayoko Yamaguchi
(in Japanese)
Japanese women fashion designers
Models from Tokyo
Actresses from Tokyo
Models from Yokohama
People of the Shōwa era
1949 births
2007 deaths
Japanese female models
{{Japan-film-actor-stub