Akihiko Hirata

, known professionally as , was a Japanese film actor. He is known for his work in the ''kaiju'' genre, including such films as ''King Kong vs. Godzilla'', ''The Mysterians'', ''Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla'', ''Terror of Mechagodzilla'', and his most famous role of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, the brilliant but disturbed young scientist in the original ''Godzilla'', released in 1954. He starred in many movies, including Hiroshi Inagaki's ''Samurai'' trilogy.

Hirata was married to actress Yoshiko Kuga from 1961 until his death. He died at age 56 in 1984 after a long battle with lung cancer. Provided by Wikipedia