Actor and peace activist Akira Takarada, who starred in the original Godzilla in 1954, died of pneumonia at the age of 87, reports Asahi.
Takarada channeled the titled character in his later years as a peace activist. The monster Godzilla formed after exposure to radiation in a hydrogen bomb test.
The Daily Beast reports that in real life a Soviet soldier shot him in the stomach in 1945 after the defeat of Japan in World War II.
“I still remember the sound of [a doctor] cutting my body while I was half-fainting” he once told Jiji Press.
The Godzilla franchise announced his death.
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“We are saddened to hear of the passing of Akira Takarada,” the Godzilla franchise tweeted Friday. “May his memory continue to inspire the lives of many Godzilla fans.”
The star played a sailor called Hideto Ogata in the company’s 1954 production of Godzilla.
He once called war the “greatest sin committed by man,” according to the Daily Mail.
‘We should no longer be losing lives in the name of war. There’s no reason or intelligence in war. We create a world of madness,’ he told Jiji.
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