Haruo Nakajima
Japanese actor who became the first to don Godzilla’s bodysuit
HARUO NAKAJIMA, who has died aged 88, was a Japanese actor who specialised in playing giant monsters, the best known of these being Godzilla.
Nakajima was only 25 when he appeared in Godzilla (1954), the first film in the franchise. Up until then he had mainly worked as a stunt actor, although that same year he was also given a bit part in Akira Kurosawa’s enduring classic Seven Samurai.
Godzilla – the creature was originally named “Gojira”, a combination of the Japanese words gorira (gorilla) and kujira (whale) – was conceived at a time when the memories of the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still loomed large in Japan and the monster was seen as a metaphor for the destructive power of a nuclear bomb.
This is further emphasised in the film by the fact that the giant sea creature terrorising the natives of Odo island and leaving radioactive footprints has been disturbed from its deep underwater habitat by hydrogen bomb testing.
Eiji Tsuburaya, Godzilla’s special effects director, had originally wanted to use stop-motion for the monster, but after realising that the process could take seven years to accomplish he opted to film a man in Godzilla costume (suitmotion) supported by miniature effects.
Nakajima, along with another stunt actor, was chosen to take on the role because he was young and strong enough to bear the weight of the costume. The Godzilla suit was constructed out of a bamboo stick and wire frame and covered with metal mesh, latex and rubber. Due to a lack of materials available after the war they also used readymixed concrete and the whole thing weighed more than 200 pounds. “It was so heavy and hot,” Nakajima later recalled, “I was sweating all over my face, but I did the best I could.”
He maintained that a certain amount of research was required in order to play the part. “Just from reading the script,” he explained, “I couldn’t understand what this [monster] was, so I went to the zoo to do some research. Since it is so big, I thought I should study big animals, like elephants and gorillas.”
For many aficionados of the films, Nakajima’s performance was all the more effective and realistic because of its lack of computer imagery. He went on to star in 11 more Godzilla films, his last one being Godzilla vs Gigan in 1972. “I am the original, the real thing,” he said recently. “My Godzilla was the best.”
Haruo Nakajima was born on January 1 1929 in Yamagata, Japan. He served in the Japanese Navy before deciding to become an actor. His first film role was in Sword for Hire (1952) and he worked as a stunt and bit part actor in a number of Samurai films, including his role in Seven Samurai, in which he played a bandit.
As well as Godzilla he appeared as numerous other kaiju (Japanese monsters), his favourite of which was Gaira, the evil green Gargantua from War of the Gargantuas (1966), because the suit was flexible enough to allow him to wrestle authentically with his opponent.
Godzilla is now a much copied creature in the monsters’ pantheon; Kim Jong-il made his own North Korean version called Pulgasari. There have also been several Hollywood remakes as well as an animated Godzilla television series.
In later life Nakajima appeared at a number of Japanese monster conventions. He also appeared at the Monsterpalooza convention in Burbank, California in 2011.
In 2010 he published his autobiography, Monster Life: Haruo Nakajima, the Original Godzilla Actor.
He is survived by a daughter.