Biography for
Akihiko Hirata More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 December 1927, Kyogo, South Korea

Date of Death

25 July 1984, Tokyo, Japan (lung cancer)

Birth Name

Akihiko Onoda

Mini Biography

He had an unusual background for an actor: his formal education began in a kindergarten founded by the wartime-era Japanese Imperial Army, and continued in a military academy which was Tokyo's answer to West Point. Upon graduating from Tokyo University (Japan's most prestigious), Hirata confounded many family expectations of him by pursuing a career in acting. His first roles, in EVEN THE MIGHTY SHED TEARS and EMBRACE (1953), brought him to the attention of director Ishiro Honda, who promptly cast Hirata first in his WW2 romance FAREWELL RABAUL (1954) and then, later that year, in the role that would come to define Hirata's career: the tormented, one-eyed scientist Daisuke Serizawa, who alone has figured out a way to destroy the monster GOJIRA. That movie made stars out of all of the younger actors who were fortunate enough to star in it, though Hirata tended more towards second leads and character parts. He was often called the best-known of all actors to appear in Gojira movies (he would turn up in six of the sequels), but this was due as much to his popularity with directors as with his exposure through the monster movies. He was a favorite of directors Ishiro Honda, Jun Fukuda, Hiroshi Inagaki, and much beloved by virtually all the actors who knew him: honest and humorous, highly intellectual but never pretentious. He appeared in literally every kind of movie Toho Studios made, from the monster pictures to samurai dramas (including his one movie for Kurosawa, SANJURO) to war dramas to comedies. Still, he remained identified most directly in the public's mind with the original GOJIRA; his character Serizawa is among the best remembered and most admired in all Japanese films, both inside Japan and out. Hirata was chosen by Toho to announce the monster's return in GOJIRA (1984), and was tapped for a major role; but he died tragically of lung cancer before he could begin shooting.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Guy Mariner Tucker

Spouse

Yoshiko Kuga

(? - 25 July 1984)

Trade Mark

In his first film role, _Even the Mighty Shed Tears (1953)_, Hirata's character sported an eyepatch. More famously, so did his war-disfigured Dr. Serizawa in the immortal Godzilla (1954). And in another Gojira film, Big Duel in The South Seas (1966), Hirata's character (a villain this time) once again wore an eyepatch.

Trivia

The only actor to appear in the "debut" efforts of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and Ghidorah.

He held a law degree from Tokyo University.