Rumi Tama

(also, ) aka is a Japanese film director, actress, and screenwriter, known for her work in the pink film genre. After making her acting debut in 1965, she appeared in independent pink films throughout the rest of the decade, often for director Akitaka Kimata, whom she would later marry, and his son Seiji Izumi. Tama took a brief retirement in the early 1970s, then began appearing in films in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno series in 1975. She began directing in 1981, helming at least 80 films as of 2002.

Life and career

Early life and career Rumi Tama was born on January 15, 1949, in Tokyo's Setagaya neighborhood. Her family had close ties to the film industry. Her father was a set designer at Daiei Film, and her uncle was the cinematographer Kimio Watanabe at the same studio.

Rumi Tama made her film debut as an actress in the 1965 Tokyo Eiga pink film release.

Typical of the films Tama made with her future husband was Pervert (Koshokuma, 1968), in which she was cast as one of the victims of a college professor who enjoys capturing women for torture. Tama received attention particularly for her role in Shin'ya Yamamoto (director)'s .

Acting at Nikkatsu Rumi Tama came out of retirement to act for the major film studio Nikkatsu in 1975, and appeared in their Roman Porno films for the next six years. An admirer of Tama, Nikkatsu director Shogorō Nishimura was instrumental in the studio's decision to hire the actress to star in their Apartment Wife series.

The Apartment Wife series was one of the leading titles in Nikkatsu's Roman Porno genre. Nikkatsu inaugurated its Roman porno line with Nishimura's Apartment Wife: Affair In the Afternoon (1971), and its success ensured the continuation of the Roman Porno direction the studio took for the next 17 years. Nikkatsu chose Tama to be Miyashita's successor in the series, and her debut film for the studio was Nishimura's . Its story, in which a husband discovers that his wife has been appearing in pornography without his knowledge, has been cited as an influence on the Angel Guts series (1978–1994). Sharp notes that the film, while not very explicit, is nonetheless disturbing due to its sober depictions of a series of assaults. He comments that Tama performing these scenes for her future-stepson director lends the film some inadvertently Freudian connotations.

Tama starred for Shogorō Nishimura again in . This film had Tama straying far from her "Apartment Wife" persona, playing the role of a woman who has served prison time for physically abusing her unfaithful husband. Upon her release from incarceration she goes on a love-making spree with the intent of exacting revenge on her ex-husband by seducing his mistress' lover. Known as the "King of Pop Art Porn", director Ohara again worked with Tama in the 1978 nunsploitation film. Tama returned to the Apartment Wife series in 1978, for Apartment Wife: Night By Ourselves. She and Akitaka Kimata were married on September 15, 1978. Pink film industry insiders, however, doubt the veracity of this claim, noting that Ōgimachi was the mistress of Mitsugu Ōkura, head of the studio, and that he was known for showing preferential treatment to Ōgimachi. After this film, Ōgimachi never directed again. Rumi Tama made her debut as a director in 1981 with the film . Some of Tama's directorial credits are , , and . Her last directorial effort, as of 2009, was the V-cinema .