Yoko Tani
Yoko Tani (谷洋子, Tani Yōko, 2 August 1928 – 19 April 1999) was a French-born Japanese actress and nightclub entertainer. Tani was born in Paris. Her birth name was Itani Yōko (猪谷洋子). She has occasionally been described as 'Eurasian', 'half French', 'half Japanese' and even, in one source, 'Italian Japanese', all of which are incorrect. French records (1958) show that her father and mother—both Japanese—were attached to the Japanese embassy in Paris, with Tani herself conceived en route during a shipboard passage from Japan to Europe in 1927 and subsequently born in Paris the following year, hence given the name Yōko (洋子), one reading of which can mean "ocean-child.". Tani would later play a diplomat's daughter in Piccadilly Third Stop. According to Japanese sources, the family returned to Japan in 1930, when Yoko would still have been a toddler, and she did not return to France until 1950 when her schooling was completed. Given that there were severe restrictions on Japanese travelling outside Japan directly after World War II, this would have been an unusual event; however, it is known that Itani had attended an elite girls' school in Tokyo (Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School, currently Ochanomizu University Senior High School), and then graduated from Tsuda University. She subsequently secured a Catholic scholarship to study aesthetics at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) under Étienne Souriau. Once back in Paris, Tani found little interest in attending university (although by her own account she persevered for two years despite understanding hardly anything that was being said). Instead, she developed a more compelling attraction to the cabaret, the nightclub, and the variety music-hall, where, setting herself up as an exotic oriental beauty, she quickly established a reputation for her provocative "geisha" dances, which generally ended with her slipping out of her kimono. It was here she was spotted by Marcel Carné, who took her into his circle of director and actor-friends, including Roland Lesaffre, whom she was later to marry. As a result, she began to get bit parts in films—starting as (perhaps predictably) a Japanese dancer, in Gréville's Le port du désir (1953–1954, released 1955)—and on the stage, with a role as Lotus Bleu in la Petite Maison de Thé (French adaptation of The Teahouse of the August Moon) at the Théâtre Montparnasse, 1954–1955 season. ... Source: Article "Yoko Tani" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known for
ActingBirthday
August 2, 1928Deathday
April 19, 1999Gender
FemaleKnown Movie Credits
34Place of birth
Paris, FranceAlso known as
Yôko Tani, 谷洋子, Itani Yōko, 猪谷洋子![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/8GlKMs9OQlX5gZPbClGU8ycZwnn.jpg)
Cast credits
![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/xIFrL4TKONYvfnZApzAxveysNTg.jpg)
My Geisha
Kazumi Ito![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/mGVCQZJRVef2EWGsuGqqjd9PN40.jpg)
The Wind Cannot Read
Sabbi![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/fe3enWP5eETHDQ3g65zQs2hltSF.jpg)
First Spaceship on Venus
Sumiko Ogimura, japanische Ärztin![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/67Ks7m063DsocmWmo2DyTSuFXZr.jpg)
The Quiet American
Rendezvous Hostess![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/9zWw2SCxCygE9tGs8wMuwb9Fws.jpg)
The Savage Innocents
Asiak![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/xkCs7i3WiL72hoRiqL3ktLGZGeS.jpg)
Marco Polo
Princess Amurroy![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/1sLQlXH9gMJCwhLuoxuqePxKC5f.jpg)
Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World
Princess Lei-ling![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/ikYbg2WfWcV5fLC8x8eQsv21izX.jpg)
The Spy Who Loved Flowers
Mei Lang![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/pmodny5LHR8zgS3uv2XQGeykTMe.jpg)
Invasion
Leader of the Lystrians![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/v9k9FWRe5A5ThN53hFpNnlR5DJ2.jpg)
Piccadilly Third Stop
Fina (Seraphina) Yokami (as Yoko Tani)![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/pKMfyiQcawiFdr58fDahC0Et36C.jpg)
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Isami Hiroti![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/nllBNegJrtb4ZJT8RoJDDvNfFvM.jpg)
The Golden Lotus
![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/mmSPsKme7hEPOkR8M9ykmorRMU9.jpg)
OSS 77 - Operazione fior di loto
Lady of Formosa![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/fXfaITReGojnbMBxNnnGJrqAyWW.jpg)
Koroshi
Ako Nakamura / Miho![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/yCrgLOPoxuPTSzyhsS4n25PAHpt.jpg)
Fire in the Flesh
Zélie![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/rLl5y2LUUiJhcTIHqwv3qGXKydD.jpg)
Suicide Mission to Singapore
Annie Wong![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/iNP63OCGq9zn4hWDQOVzMv5Ril3.jpg)
Ursus and the Tartar Princess
Princess Ila![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/pOvXOXARZM4HrDtlgOHOScuGCK4.jpg)
The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse
Mercedes![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/m2qHQfPuJT7yUJR7ewjjNfFQ88x.jpg)
The Ostrich Has Two Eggs
Yoko![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/wO465GrHwNBpKuPfDqGGGVlTOhO.jpg)
Vice Dolls
The Chinese![](https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/h632/bcZhtLk8BViIC3geTeqV91MKN2B.jpg)
Bianco, rosso, giallo, rosa
Yoko