The actor and stuntman who played Godzilla in the classic films has died at the age of 76

Japanese actor and stuntman Kenpachiro Satsuma died on Saturday (16), aged 76. The family said the cause of death was pneumonia. He played the reptilian monster Godzilla in eight films, from 1984 to 1995. The first was “The Return of Gozdilla”.

He left his mark by recovering the drama and maximum aggression of the character, leaving aside the comic behavior adopted by his colleagues in the character’s previous works.

A former steelworker, Satsuma enjoyed the challenge of acting in the heavy rubber suit, but the heat inside the suit was so intense that he fainted several times on set.

The actor began his career playing warriors in traditional samurai productions. In 1971, he donned the costume of Hedorah (also known as Hedoro and Smog), a giant lobster enemy of Godzilla.

Then, he created another rival to the prehistoric monster, Gigan. With the retirement of the first artist to don the Godzilla suit, Haruo Nakajima, the team tested a few replacements until Satsuma accepted an invitation from the directors of the production company Toho to take on the mission of bringing the classic pop culture creature to life .

Created in Japan, the “kaiju” is a giant monster that has become a genre of its own within science fiction, always associated with the destruction of cities and environmental catastrophes.

Given the success in the East, Hollywood produced several films of this type, such as ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’, from 2021. A sequel, ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’, will hit theaters in April 2024.

Currently showing in Brazil is “Godzilla Minus One”, which shows the reappearance of the monster in Japan devastated by the Second World War.

Source: Terra