Japanese Actress. Kato was an actress who was known for playing the role of “graceful, kindly mother figures” in television dramas. She joined a girl opera company of the Shochiku Co. group in 1937 and moved to a movie company in 1939 where she played opposite of Kenichi Enomoto, a popular comedian of the time.  Kato joined the theater company Bungakuza in 1949 and then formed a new theater group with fellow actor Hiroshi Akutagawa where she remained until 1975.   She also went into television in the mid 1960s, appearing in such series as “Shichinin no mago” (1964), “Kiri no hata” (1972), “Ashura no gotoku paato II” (1980)”, and “Hatsu Taiken” (2002).    Kato won several awards for her acting accomplishments through the years including the Kunio Kishida drama award in 1953 and the Kazuo Kikuta drama award in 1999. In 2002, she received the fourth-class Order of the Precious Crown. (bio by: Mr. Badger Hawkeye)