It is with sadness that I have to create another in memoriam thread for an actor who contributed so greatly to the epic movies we love, many of which might have proven the inspiration for why some of us are even on this forum today. Godzilla suit actor Satsuma Kenpachirō (薩摩剣八郎), born Maeda Yasuaki (前田靖昭), passed away yesterday at the age of 76. Satsuma-san was active behind the mask across films of both the Shows and Heisei era, first getting involved in the franchise playing the opposing titular monster in 1971's Godzilla vs. Hedorah. I think this is a performance many of us will remember fondly. He then went on portray Gigan in the 1972 and 1973 follow-up films, as well as in the tremendously toku Zone Fighter. Satsuma-san took over the King of Monsters role beginning with the Heisei pseudo-reboot/sequel Return of Godzilla. From then he went on to hold the mantle portraying Godzilla in another seven franchise films, all the way through to 1995's Godzilla vs. Destroyah. Probably one of the most interesting connections beyond these films was his title role in the North Korean 1985 film Pulgasari, whose storyline and production is well worth a read if you are unfamiliar with this cinematic 'gem' (really, I am genuinely still waiting for an excellent making-of documentary and legacy of this movie, sadly which now could not feature commentary by Satsuma-san ). It is a sad thing to continue to lose such legends of the kaiju screen, especially ones which played such key roles in major eras of the genre. His legacy will live on, and hopefully always be appreciated for the screen performances he left behind. He will surely be greatly missed.
He was Pulgasari too?!!! You're quite right, the stories this man had would have been the stuff of legend. Very sad loss.
