Tomoyuki Tanaka
| Tomoyuki Tanaka | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 田中 友幸 |
| Born |
April 26, 1910 Kashiwara, Osaka, Japan |
| Died | April 2, 1997 (aged 86) Tokyo, Japan |
| Cause of death | stroke |
| Occupation | Film producer |
| Years active | 1940–1997 |
| Known for | Godzilla series |
| Spouse(s) | Chieko Nakakita (1926–1997 (his death)) |
Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中 友幸 Tanaka Tomoyuki?) was a Japanese film producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla franchise. He was born in Kashiwara, Osaka, Japan on April 26, 1910, and died in Tokyo on April 2, 1997. Tanaka was married to the actress Chieko Nakakita (1926 – 2005). He died of a stroke at the age of 86.
Soon after graduating from Kansai University in 1940, Tanaka joined Toho Studios. After four years with the company, he began producing his own films, and his first effort, Three Women of the North, was released in 1945. In his 60-year career with Toho, Tanaka produced more than 200 films.
He is best known as the creator, with storyteller Shigeru Kayama, director Ishirō Honda, writer Takeo Murata and special-effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, of Godzilla, the towering embodiment of post-World War II anxiety. Tanaka created Godzilla in 1954 in an effort to illustrate the terror Japanese felt after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In an interview in 1985 Tanaka summed up the symbolism of Godzilla:
In those days, Japanese had a real horror of radiation, and that horror is what made Godzilla so huge. From the beginning he has symbolized nature's revenge on mankind.
The classic 1954 film Godzilla (1954; released in the U.S. in 1956 as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!) would spawn a series of sequels, adding up to 28 films by 2004. Tanaka produced every Toho monster movie. He often worked with the other three members of the Godzilla team: Honda, Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube, to complete such works as The Mysterians (1957) and Matango (1963). Tanaka produced six films directed by the acclaimed Akira Kurosawa. Their film Kagemusha (1980) was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar and took the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
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