http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...-dies-49086392
"I am the original, the real thing," he said in 2014. "My Godzilla was the best."
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Interesting news ...
The top-billed actor in the original Godzilla was Takashi Shimura, who is one of the great actors in screen history although unknown to most American film fans.
He was a particular favorite of director Akira Kurosawa. The same year he played Dr. Yumane in Godzilla, he played Yameda, the leader of the Seven Samurai (the role Yul Brynner copied in the Magnificent Seven). Two years earlier, he had his greatest role as Watanabe in Ikiru. IMHO, that performance is one of the 5-10 greatest in screen history. He also had prominent roles in Rashomon, Throne of Blood, High and Low ...
BTW, if you are going to watch Godzilla for the first time, make sure you see the brilliant Japanese version ... not the mangled for Americans recut starring Raymond Burr. The original is a haunting and beautiful film (with a great score).
Don't forget, the guy was also Mothra!
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust