Dhe Japanese actor Akira Takarada, who starred in the first “Godzilla” film in 1954, is dead. Takarada died at the age of 87 in a Tokyo hospital of complications from pneumonia, Japanese media reported on Friday. “We are saddened to hear of Akira Takarada’s death. May his memory continue to inspire the lives of many ‘Godzilla’ fans,” the creators of the legendary film series said on Twitter.
Takarada rose to stardom by playing a heroic ship’s captain in the first film about the giant fire-breathing monster. He also starred in several sequels.
He had a minor role in 1961’s “The Autumn of the Kohayagawa Family,” a film by star director Yasujiro Ozu about a sake-brewing family in Kyoto. Takarada later starred in many other Japanese films and television series.
After being injured, he became an opponent of the war
Takarada was born on the Korean peninsula in 1934 and grew up in the Chinese province of Manchuria, which was then a Japanese colony. As a soldier in World War II, he was seriously injured in 1945. Takarada later became an opponent of the war. War is “the greatest sin that man has committed,” he once said.