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RIP Akira Takarada Prolific Japanese actor Akira Takarada died on March 14. He was 87. Toho Studios did not release the cause of death, he had been known to struggling with a chronic illness and he was in a wheelchair for his most recent fan greeting appearance.
Born in North Korea, he rose from the Toho New Face program to become one of the most recognizable men associated with the original Godzilla series. He appeared in six installments. Thanks to Tim and Gordon for their respective headses ups. 3 Replies to “RIP Akira Takarada”Commenting at Satellite News
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Yasuraka ni nemuru
Rest In Peace
The Japanese script in the above eulogy was rendered as question marks. My apologies.
I had the pleasure of meeting Takarada at G-FEST in 2010. I had a thick, hardbound Godzilla book for him to sign, and he took a keen interest in it. Later at his discussion panel, I asked him about working on “Samurai Saga”, a chanbara version of “Cyrano de Bergerac” in which he played the Christian role to Toshiro Mifune’s Cyrano. As my question was being interpreted, he smiled, pointed at me and went, “Ahhhhhhhhh!” He was delighted that Americans knew so much about his filmography.
His credits range from Yasujiro Ozu’s “The End of Summer” to the voice of Jafar in the Japanese release of Disney’s “Aladdin”. On stage, he played Rhett Butler in a Japanese theatrical production of “Gone with the Wind” and appeared on Broadway in “Freddie the Leaf”. And of course, six Godzilla movies (seven if you count an unused cameo in Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla”).
Sayonara, Takarada-sama, no arigato.