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Nakajima, who appeared as the iconic creature, died of pneumonia on Monday, a spokesman for the studio that produced the Godzilla films revealed.
Nakajima who is originally a stuntman, first took on the role of the giant monster awakened by a hydrogen bomb test to rise out of a roiling sea and swim to Japan where it crushes Tokyo.
Godzilla, a walking, radiation-breathing analogy for nuclear disaster resonated in Japan. Just nine years earlier the country had suffered the world’s first, and still only, atomic bomb attacks at the hands of the United States in the closing days of World War II.
Nakajima prepared to play the imaginary creature by visiting a Tokyo zoo for a week to analyze the moves of elephants, bears and gorillas, according to the Toho website.
He noted that the suit for the original film was too heavy and he could barely walk for 10 metres (33 feet). The suit weighed around 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds), Toho said.
Nakajima also said he “felt a sense of isolation” in the beginning because of the thickness of the rubber used in the suit that he could not remove without help.
The original movie “Gojira” — a Japanese portmanteau of “gorilla” and “kujira” (whale) — was a mega hit, drawing 9.6 million viewers to cinemas. The franchise has also produced 29 films in Japan, according to Toho.