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IMDbPro

Akihiko Hirata(1927-1984)

  • Actor
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Akihiko Hirata in Godzilla (1954)
Home Video Trailer from Toho Film Company
Play trailer2:52
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
8 Videos
47 Photos
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 Tetsuwan namida ari (1953) and The Last Embrace (1953) brought him to the attention of director Ishirô Honda, who promptly cast Hirata first in his WW2 romance Farewell Rabaul Saraba Rabauru (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 Godzilla (1954). 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 Akira Kurosawa, Sanjuro (1962)) 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 Godzilla 1985 (1985), and was tapped for a major role; but he died tragically of lung cancer before he could begin shooting.
BornDecember 26, 1927
DiedJuly 25, 1984(56)
BornDecember 26, 1927
DiedJuly 25, 1984(56)
IMDbProStarmeter
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Photos47

Tomoko Ai and Akihiko Hirata in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, Tôru Ibuki, and Gorô Mutsumi in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Tomoko Ai and Akihiko Hirata in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Akihiko Hirata in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Tomoko Ai and Akihiko Hirata in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, and Tôru Ibuki in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Akihiko Hirata and Tôru Ibuki in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Akihiko Hirata and Shin Kishida in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Kazuya Aoyama, Akihiko Hirata, Shin Kishida, and Takanobu Tôya in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Akihiko Hirata and Gorô Mutsumi in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Akihiko Hirata and Gorô Mutsumi in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Kazuya Aoyama, Masaaki Daimon, Akihiko Hirata, and Hiromi Matsushita in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Known for

Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kôchi, Takashi Shimura, and Akira Takarada in Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla
7.5
  • Dr. Daisuke Serizawa
  • 1954
Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
6.3
  • Dr. Serizawa
  • 1956
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Terror of Mechagodzilla
6.1
  • Dr. Shinzô Mafune
  • 1975
Toshirô Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai in Sanjuro (1962)
Sanjuro
8.0
  • Samurai
  • 1962

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Fugitive Alien (1986)
    Fugitive Alien
    • (uncredited)
  • Bye Bye Jupiter (1984)
    Bye Bye Jupiter
  • Suparuta no umi
  • Reibyo densetsu
  • Edogawa Ranpo no Bijo (1977)
    Edogawa Ranpo no Bijo
  • Hi no ataru basho
  • Tuesday Suspense Theater (1981)
    Tuesday Suspense Theater
  • Exam Hell
  • At This Late Date, the Charleston (1981)
    At This Late Date, the Charleston
  • Station (1981)
    Station
  • The Imperial Navy (1981)
    The Imperial Navy
  • Sekigahara (1981)
    Sekigahara
  • Kyôtarô Nishimura's Travel Mystery: the Mysteries of Ghost Ship
  • Tatsuya Nakadai and Tetsurô Tanba in The Battle of Port Arthur (1980)
    The Battle of Port Arthur
  • Masaaki Sakai in Monkey (1978)
    Monkey

Videos8

Trailer
Trailer 3:08
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:27
Trailer
Trailer [OV]
Trailer 2:34
Trailer [OV]
Trailer
Trailer 2:09
Trailer
Godzilla: The Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
Trailer 1:38
Godzilla: The Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
The Mysterians
Trailer 1:43
The Mysterians
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Trailer 2:52
Terror of Mechagodzilla
Godzilla: Deluxe Collectors Edition
Trailer 1:01
Godzilla: Deluxe Collectors Edition

Personal details

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    • December 26, 1927
    • Kyogo, South Korea
    • July 25, 1984
    • Tokyo, Japan(lung cancer)
    • Yoshiko Kuga? - July 25, 1984

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    He held a law degree from Tokyo University.
  • Quotes
    [on the original Godzilla] I always wondered why this movie did not get the reputation it deserved back when it was released. I don't understand why movie critics and other media could not take that movie as a protest against the hydrogen bomb testings and nuclear weapons and the fear and anger against that. I don't understand why they couldn't get.
    • In his first film role, Tetsuwan namida ari (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, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966), Hirata's character (a villain this time) once again wore an eyepatch.

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