A Birthday Remembrance For…

Today, April 26, 2024, marks the 114th anniversary of the birth of Tomoyuki Tanaka.

For those unfamiliar with that name, Tanaka was the producer at Toho Studios, that started the GODZILLA franchise. He’s credited as one of Godzilla’s ‘Four Fathers’ – the others being director Ishiro Honda, effects master Eiji Tsuburaya, & composer Akira Ifukube, putting out GOJIRA on November 3, 1954.

One might say Tanaka was the creator of the concept, though. He was on his way back to Japan, flying home after the permits/visas for the cast & crew of a huge film to be made in Indonesia fell thru. Tanaka was stuck for a replacement, when he looked out the window of the plane, looking down into the depths of the ocean, wondering what mysteries lay beneath the waves.
It came to him – a sea monster! The rest is history.

Tomoyuki Tanaka would go on to produce twenty one of the Godzilla sequels. He also either produced, or oversaw, every sci-fi film made by Toho thru 1997, including RODAN (1956), MOTHRA (1961), & ATRAGON (1963).
He also produced six films for legendary director, Akira Kurosawa.