Having started acting as a teenager, Matsubara Chieko was soon in roles as a grown-up for Nikkatsu Studio - which had hired her on contract following a beauty contest - in films like Cruel Gun Story or the infamous Tokyo Drifter for director Suzuki Seijun where she played a cool and mysterious love interest. Many thought of her as one of the more beautiful actresses of Japan and indeed the press dubbed her as part of Japan's Three Beauties. Although she became less active both in the '70s following her marriage and in the '80s she did remain in front of the camera for both cinema and television including her heart-wrenching role in Kitano Takeshi's Dolls in 2002.