Akihiko Hirata

Acting

Akihiko Hirata

Born 1927-12-26 · 日本, 東京都

Akihiko Hirata (born Hirata Akihiko; 26 December 1927–25 July 1984) was a Japanese film actor. While Hirata starred in many movies (including Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy), he is most well known for his work in the kaiju genre, including such films as King Kong vs. Godzilla, The Mysterians, and his most famous role of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, the brilliant but disturbed young scientist in the original Godzilla, released in 1954. Hirata died after a long battle with lung cancer in 1984, at age 56.

Acting credits

Godzilla poster
7.6

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

Godzilla

1954

Sanjuro poster
7.9

In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.

Sanjuro

1962

Chûshingura poster
7.1

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Chûshingura

1962

Varan the Unbelievable poster
4.4

In an effort to find an economic means of purifying salt water, a joint U.S.-Japanese military command is set up on an isolated Japanese island where an unusual salt water lake is situated. However, their purifying experiments arouse the prehistoric monster Obaki from hibernation at the lake's bottom, and it proceeds to attack Japan. Although made by a U.S. independent film company, this film was based on a Japanese Toho monster film of 1958, "Daikaiju Varan", from which all of the monster effects scenes and a few incidental dramatic shots were edited into it.

Varan the Unbelievable

1962

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep poster
6.3

Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

1966

King Kong vs. Godzilla poster
6.9

The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

1962

Blood on the Sea poster
NR

Four fishermen friends are caught up in a piracy plot.

Blood on the Sea

1961

Son of Godzilla poster
6.4

Reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.

Son of Godzilla

1967

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! poster
6.5

During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

1956

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah poster
7.8

A burning Godzilla, on the verge of meltdown, emerges to lay siege to Hong Kong. At the same time horrifying new organisms are discovered in Japan. These crustacean-like beings are seemingly born of the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon that killed the original Godzilla.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

1995

Terror of Mechagodzilla poster
6.8

A submarine expedition to salvage the remains of Mechagodzilla is thwarted by a massive dinosaur named Titanosaurus. An Interpol investigation leads biologist Ichinose to uncover the work of Dr. Mafune and his mysterious daughter Katsura. Aligned with the Black Hole Aliens, Katsura's life becomes entwined with the resurrected machine.

Terror of Mechagodzilla

1975

Female Detective Story: S.O.S  Woman poster
10.0

A private detective and a colleague investigate a man for a wealthy young lady.

Female Detective Story: S.O.S Woman

1958

The Mysterians poster
6.3

In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.

The Mysterians

1957

Adventure in Kigan Castle poster
6.2

Osami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.

Adventure in Kigan Castle

1966

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island poster
7.2

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

1956

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla poster
7.0

An Okinawan prophecy that foretells the destruction of the Earth is seeming fulfilled when Godzilla emerges to return to his destructive roots. But not all is what it seems after Godzilla breaks his ally Anguirus's jaw. Matters are further complicated when a second Godzilla emerges, revealing the doppelgänger as a mechanical weapon.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

1974

King Kong vs. Godzilla poster
6.5

When an underhanded pharmaceutical company goes to a remote tropical island to steal King Kong for advertising purposes, they get more than they bargained for when the gigantic ape attacks an unsuspecting village and an enormous octopus.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

1963

Atragon poster
6.6

The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War II Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface world's only defense.

Atragon

1963

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster poster
7.0

After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

1964

Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla poster
7.5

JSDF pilot Akane has a fateful encounter when a new Godzilla emerges in Tateyama. As a countermeasure, a cyborg named Kiryu is constructed from the remains of the original. The machine is discovered to harbor the restless soul of the original monster as Akane must learn to find value in her own life as well.

Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

2002

Mothra poster
7.2

Shipwreck survivors found on the presumably uninhabited Infant Island leads to a scientific expedition that discovers a surviving native population along with the Shobijin, tiny twin fairy priestesses of the island's mythical deity called Mothra. After the fairies are kidnapped by an exploitative businessman named Clark Nelson, Mothra sets out to rescue them.

Mothra

1961

Rise Against the Sword poster
6.3

Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved, he attempts to recruit him to fight in a conflict between Asakura and another clan. Goemon refuses, and Lord Asakura sets out to destroy him.

Rise Against the Sword

1966

Rodan poster
6.5

Mining engineer Shigeru investigates the disappearance and death of his fellow coworkers when prehistoric nymphs are discovered emerging from the mines. After an attack on the local village, Shigeru heads deeper into the mines only to make a more horrifying discovery in the form a prehistoric flying creature. Soon a second monster appears as the two converge in Fukuoka.

Rodan

1956

Port Arthur poster
7.4

Depicts the bloody siege of the fortress of Port Arthur, one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world, during the Russo-Japanese War of (1904 - 1905). In the story dominated the character Lt Takeshi Kogyo (Teruhiko Aoi), teachers, and a reserve officer who became commander of the platoon and later company. At the same time monitors the conduct of the army commander general Nogi (Tatsuya Nakadai), which was commissioned of the emperor Matsuhito (Toshirô Mifune) to the conquest of the fort.

Port Arthur

1980