Sumiko Nakazawa was born on 4 November 1933 in Higashi-Ryōgoku, an area in Honjo, Tokyo, the eldest of the four daughters of an umbrella plating businessman.
[2] After graduating from Jumonji Junior and Senior High School [ja] in 1952,[1] she passed the Mitsukoshi entrance exam, but encountered opposition from her parents and grandfather.
[1][5] She married actor Shin'ichi Yanagisawa [ja] in 1956, but the next year they divorced and she temporarily left the film industry.
[1] In 2002, she received the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Art Encouragement [ja] Award and Medal with Purple Ribbon.
[1] In November 2009, she attended the ceremony commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the reign of Emperor Akihito as the entertainment field representative.
[10] In April 2007, she was hospitalized for testing and diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia, lung cancer, and pleural effusion; therefore she stepped down from the national performance of Botan Dōrō, which was scheduled to begin on 25 May.
[11][4] From April until May 2010, she appeared in the play Sanbaba at the Chunichi Theatre in Nagoya,[4] but afterwards she was readmitted to the hospital following a relapse of cancer.