Haruo Nakajima, the actor who portrayed Godzilla in the seminal 1954 film of the same name, has died at the age of 88. His daughter, Sonoe Nakajima, confirmed to the Associated Press that her father passed away Monday from pneumonia. The film became a striking symbol of the nuclear age in post-war Japan. Nakajima had said he created the character by going to a zoo to study how bears, elephants, and other large animals navigated their environments. “It’s not some cowboy movie,” he said, in 2014. “If Godzilla can’t walk properly, it’s nothing but a freak show.”
