Tomoyuki Tanaka

Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中 友幸, Tanaka Tomoyuki) was a Japanese film producer and the creator of Godzilla. He was born in Kashiwara, Osaka on April 26, 1910, and died in Tokyo on April 2, 1997 of a stroke at the age of 86. Tanaka was survived by his wife, actress Chieko Nakakita (1926 – 2005).

BIOGRAPHY

A producer at Toho Studios since 1944 and with more than 200 films to his credit, Tomoyuki Tanaka is still best remembered today as the father of Godzilla. Tanaka conceived the idea of making a giant monster movie during a plan ride back to Tokyo after failing to secure funds for a purposed war picture set in the South Seas. At this point in time Toho was a studio mostly known for romantic comedies and musicals and had never produced the kind of ambitious sci-fi picture Tanaka had envisioned. In the end Toho spent three times their average budget on 1954’s Godzilla (62 million yen or $175,000) but were not at all disappointed when the film proved to be both a domestic and international hit bringing in a total of 152 million yen (or $2,250,000) in Japan with another $2,000,000 from the U.S. upon its initial release.

Tanaka would go on to oversee the production of the first 22 of what is currently 28 films in the Japanese Godzilla series. In addition to Godzilla, Tanaka also produced a number of other notable Kaiju and sci-fi films for Toho as well as several films directed by Akira Kurosawa including Kagemusha (1980) which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes that year. Because of his success as a producer Tanaka was eventually made President of Toho Studios in 1970.    

FILMOGRAPHY
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