 |
| Actor Hiroyuki Watanabe in June 2016. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Actor Hiroyuki Watanabe passed away on May 3 at age 66. He was found hanging in his home, but no further details are available at this time.
Born in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, on December 9, 1955, Mr. Watanabe would make his big-screen debut in the film On the Road (1982), which would lead to a lengthy career in film and television.
Prior to that, however, he auditioned for, but didn't get cast as, the lead role of the series Kamen Rider Super-1 (1980-81). He would eventually get to play Kamen Rider Gaoh in Kamen Rider Den-O: I'm Born! (2007), which made him the oldest actor to play a Kamen Rider at the time.
During his acting career, Mr. Watanabe appeared in all three of the Heisei Gamera films as Col. Ono, as well as GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) as Yutaka Hirose. He was also a series regular on Ultraman Gaia (1998-99) as Akio Ishimuro, among various other tokusatsu films and TV programs.
I met Mr. Watanabe just once, which was in June 2016. He was a friendly guy and very easy to speak with. As he had been studying it for a few years, he could communicate in English quite well. As an actor, his career touched the Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider series -- a very rare feat.
Rest in peace, Mr. Watanabe.
No comments:
Post a Comment