Akihiko Hirata

Akihiko Hirata

Akihiko Hirata (born as "Akihiko Onoda" on December 26, 1927 in Seoul, Korea; passed away July 25, 1984 in Tokyo, Japan) was a Japanese actor who often appeared in Toho Company Ltd.'s various Kaiju films. Hirata starred in many non-Kaiju films including Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy as well. His most famous role to date was Daisuke Serizawa in the 1954 original Gojira and Terror of MechaGodzilla  (archive footage of this character later appeared in *Godzilla vs. Destoroyah and Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla). His other appearances in Kaiju films, where he portrayed various different characters other than his famous scientist role were Rodan, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Varan the Unbelievable, The Secret of the Telegian, Mothra (1961), Gorath (1962), King Kong vs. Godzilla, Atragon, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Experiment 213's Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla. Hirata was also originally slated to appear in the 1984 Japanese reboot of Godzilla entitled The Return of Godzilla (redistributed and reedited in the United States as Godzilla 1985) but was unable to due to dying from long-term lung cancer at the age of 56.