The Original Godzilla Actor, Haruo Nakajima, Dead At Age 88

Harou Nakajima, the original suit actor for Godzilla.

Legendary stunt actor Haruo Nakajima, the first actor to wear the iconic Godzilla suit, has passed away aged 88 from pneumonia.

Born in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan on January 1, 1929,  Nakajima began his film career as a stunt actor in samurai films. The most memorable of these was his small role as a bandit in the film Seven Samurai (1954) directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film was one of the major inspirations for George Lucas when creating the Star Wars cinematic universe. 

Nakajima is best known to fans across the world as the original suit actor for the legendary movie monster, Godzilla. 

Nakajima practicing his steps with the bottom half of the
Godzilla suit on set.

  

In his remarkable two decade acting career, Nakajima played the legendary Kaiju consecutively for the first 12 films of the Showa Period (1954-1975) of the Godzilla movie franchise. Starting with the original film Godzilla (1954) till his final performance as the classic city-destroying, radioactive fire shooting monster in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Nakajima brought Godzilla to life in many of the monster's most memorable movies. 

Nakajima, in the full Godzilla suit, on set being prepared for
his next scene.

Of course, it was Godzilla which would inspire a number of popular giant dinosaur scenes and spoofs in films and television shows, including: the female T-Rex terrorizing San Diego in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Reptar, the favorite cartoon monster character of Nickelodeon's animated television series Rugrats. 

As a life-long fan of classic monster films, I remember seeing my first Godzilla films as a young kid in a marathon on Atlanta's Turner Broadcasting Stations (TBS) in the mid 1980s and the impact this cultural phenomenon had on me through the talents of Mr. Nakajima, who brought life and personality in a dinosaur suit. 

Domo Arigato Gozaimasu, Nakajima-san. RIP.