Godzilla Series Actor Akira Nakao Passes Away at Age 81

A 2018 Godzilla-themed event at which Akira Nakao appeared as a special guest. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The Japanese media is reporting that Akira Nakao, best known for playing Commander Aso in the Heisei Godzilla series, as well as Prime Minister Igarashi in the Millennium series, passed away due to heart failure on May 16 at the age of 81. A private funeral has already been held. 

While I don't have any photographs proving it, I briefly met Nakao-san on November 2, 2018, at an event I blogged about two years ago. The event itself was rather underwhelming, as attendees were given the opportunity to shake Nakao-san's hand as they passed him in line and not much else. I was able to express my admiration for his work in The Vampire Doll (1970), which seemed to amuse him, but that was it.

Nakao-san's demise was falsely reported two years ago (among some American fans, naturally), but this time it has unfortunately been confirmed by reliable media sources.

Rest in peace, Nakao-san. 

DEEP DIVE: Did Teruyoshi Nakano Work on the Bloodthirsty Series?

Teruyoshi Nakano in May 2017. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I was browsing Wikizilla the other day and noticed that one of the editors removed the Bloodthirsty trilogy -- consisting of The Vampire Doll (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), and Evil of Dracula (1974), all of which were directed by Michio Yamamoto -- from Toho special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano's filmography, due to a lack of proper citation.

I thought that was rather interesting, as I didn't realize Nakano-san's involvement was that poorly documented. But it did remind me of the time I asked Nakano-san about it in person. Thankfully, I took contemporaneous notes of his comments, and, after doing some digging for them, I finally found them and had a chance to look at them for the first time in a long time.

My notes are below, slightly edited for clarity:

5/27/2017 - Teruyoshi Nakano worked on the Bloodthirsty trilogy for free and no credit because he was friends with Fumio Tanaka. 

Fumio Tanaka, of course, produced the Bloodthirsty trilogy. And there you have it, straight from the source.

AN EVENING WITH COLONEL ASO! Reflecting on That Time I Met Akira Nakao in 2018!

The movie screen at the Ikebukuro Humax Cinemas just before the kickoff of the November 2018 Godzilla all-nighter. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On November 2, 2018, an all-night Godzilla film festival was held at the Ikebukuro Humax Cinemas, the special guest of which was actor Akira Nakao, best known among Godzilla fans for portraying Colonel (later Commander) Aso in some of the '90s Godzilla films, as well as Prime Minister Igarashi in a couple of the Masaaki Tezuka-directed Millennium-era movies. This was a rare public appearance for Mr. Nakao, so I was rather excited for it. 

The poster for Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002), one of the films screened that evening. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I really shouldn't have been, as his appearance was mostly a disappointment for me. Don't get me wrong -- Mr. Nakao was full of energy at the event and clearly enjoyed himself. But the bromide card set given out during the event didn't even have his actual autograph on any of the cards (aside from a couple with his signature obviously printed on them), not to mention that (as expected) attendees' face time with him was minimal, to put it mildly.

The poster for Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), which was also screened that evening. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I remember telling him in the moment I had to speak with him that I enjoyed his work in The Vampire Doll (1970), in which he starred as Hiroshi Takagi. As I recall, he just laughed and was generally surprised that I even knew about that film. So, while I enjoyed meeting Mr. Nakao (as fleeting as it was), there wasn't much else I enjoyed about it. 

The poster for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), another movie screened that evening. Photo by Brett Homenick.

It was an all-night event, which I'm usually never enthused about in the first place, but I believe I had to work the next day, so I couldn't stay through the whole thing even if I wanted to. I'm pretty sure I stayed for Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002), and then left after the film and meeting Mr. Nakao. 

I apparently was so underwhelmed by my experience at this event that I never even bothered to post about it here! In retrospect, I can see why I felt that way, but, given that some irresponsible fake news was recently shared about the actor by some self-professed tokusatsu "expert" (let's just say that reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated), now is as good an opportunity as any to record my recollections of that evening, as few as they are.

A GREAT TOHO DOUBLE FEATURE! Returning to the Laputa Asagaya!

Poster art for The Vampire Doll on display at the  Laputa Asagaya. Photo by Brett Homenick.

As you've probably surmised by now, I returned to the Laputa Asagaya tonight for yet another evening of Toho films. One was quite familiar to me, but the other was completely new.

Promotional material for Toho's Pigs and Goldfish. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The first film I saw was Pigs and Goldfish (1962), a light Toho comedy with some romance mixed in. The film stars Ken Uehara in a rare (at least for me) comedic turn. I mostly know him from his stoic performances in Mothra (1961), Gorath (1962), and Atragon (1963) in which he oozes authority. But here he plays things largely for laughs, even getting water tossed on him (off-camera) several times. The movie also stars Akiko Wakabayashi, who is absolutely radiant here. She is given quite a bit to do, and she runs with it. To top it all off, there are literal pigs and goldfish in the movie, too. A goldfish gets eaten by a sneaky black cat (off-camera), and a pig becomes a rock star (well, sort of). How does it all unfold? See the movie to find out!

Promotional material for Toho's The Vampire Doll. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Next up was The Vampire Doll (1970), a Toho horror film that I'd imagine most readers here are rather familiar with. As "luck" would have it, I actually watched a subtitled copy of this film just a few weeks ago. Still, even having just seen the movie, I enjoyed it immensely on the big screen -- a first for me.

The Vampire Doll is an all-around excellent horror film, right down to Riichiro Manabe's score that the New York Times called "stately" in its review. Can't argue with that. Yukiko Kobayashi is also downright chilling as the vampire. Great stuff to see on a rainy night. (Unfortunately for me, the weather was perfect. Oh, well.)

All in all, it was a very enjoyable night. I will almost certainly return next week. Stay tuned!

YUKIKO KOBAYASHI RETURNS! The Toho Actress Attends a Space Amoeba Screening!

Yours truly posing with Toho actress Yukiko Kobayashi during a special event in Yokohama.

Today I attended a film event in Kanagawa Prefecture that focuses on Yog Monster from Space (a.k.a. Space Amoeba, 1970). In attendance for the screening was actress Yukiko Kobayashi, who played the island girl Saki in the film. She also was the female lead in Destroy All Monsters (1968) and essayed the title character in The Vampire Doll (1970). In Japan, however, she is best known for her guest appearance in episode 9 of Ultra Seven (1967-68) as Android Zero One. 

Yukiko Kobayashi during her heyday at Toho Studios. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Interestingly, the 35mm print of Space Amoeba started with some other film's Toho mark spliced in at the beginning. The music was some generic-sounding electric guitar riff, much different from Akira Ifukube's island music. After an abrupt cut, the movie ran without any other noticeable changes. (Given that the same thing happened with a print of Espy that ran a few months ago, I wonder how many other prints have their Toho marks lifted from other films. More importantly, I wonder what happened to these prints that necessitated such a change!)

Movie posters for Young Guy on Mt. Cook (1969) and Destroy All Monsters, both featuring Yukiko Kobayashi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Watching the film on the big screen in 35mm, I noticed an extra in the beginning of the film who strongly resembled Cliff Harrington. He seems to be the American asleep on the airliner right behind Akira Kubo's character. I'm not sure it was him, but there certainly was a strong resemblance. I also spotted Shigeo Kato in the film, and his role turned out to be surprisingly large. He's the islander who says (in the Titra dub), "Gasoline, keep us warm!" He remains in the background for much of the rest of the movie.

After the movie, Kobayashi-san gave a Q&A about her career, and she signed autographs and posed for photos. Then we all gathered for dinner with her. Everybody had a great time, and I hope to have a chance to see Kobayashi-san again in the future.

THE VAMPIRE DOLL STRIKES AGAIN! Actress Yukiko Kobayashi Celebrates Godzilla's Birthday in Ginza!

Your humble blogmeister meets actress Yukiko Kobayashi in Ginza, Tokyo.

November 3 marks Godzilla's birthday, and this year the Cine Pathos Theater in Ginza celebrated The Big G's big day in style. An all-day film festival was held, which I was very happy to attend. More on that event in the coming days, but I wanted to make special mention of a very special guest.

Yukiko Kobayashi shares her memories of Destroy All Monsters with a packed crowd at the Cine Pathos Theater.

None other than Yukiko Kobayashi was a surprise guest. Even though Destroy All Monsters (in which she played Kyoko Manabe) was screened much earlier in the day, Kobayashi-san made her appearance following the screening of Godzilla: Final Wars. Her appearance was a complete surprise to me; in fact, she was a surprise guest! I've wanted to meet her since coming to Japan, and I finally got my opportunity!

Ms. Kobayashi and SFX director Koichi Kawakita discuss Godzilla on the Kaiju King's birthday.

As any good tokusatsu fan knows, Kobayashi-san also appears in Yog Monster from Space (as Saki) and The Vampire Doll (as the titular character). She also notably guest-stars in episode 9 of Ultra Seven.

Ms. Kobayashi proved to be a wonderful and generous individual. She graciously agreed to pose for a photo with me once my friend Yasushi asked her (even though she didn't pose with anyone else). Suffice it to say, I came away very impressed, and I hope to meet her again very soon!