Fuminori Ohashi

Fuminori Ohashi Born January 10, 1915 Ehime, Japan Died September 20, 1989 (aged 74) Occupation Actor, suit actor, sculptor, modeler, director, special effects director First work Tarzan: King of the Cavern (1938) Notable work Half Human (1955)

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Fuminori Ohashi (大橋 史典,   Ōhashi Fuminori), born Yukitoshi Ohashi (大橋 幸利,   Ōhashi Yukitoshi) and known by the stage names Ryunosuke Kabayama (樺山 龍之介,   Kabayama Ryūnosuke) and Sanshiro Sagara (相良 三四郎,   Sagara Sanshiro), was a Japanese actor, suit actor, sculptor, modelmaker, and director. He is perhaps best recognized for his portayal of the Snowman in the 1955 film Half Human.

Ohashi began his career in 1935, working as an assistant director and cameraman for the now-defunct film company Shochiku Kamata. He soon transitioned to acting and became inspired by the 1933 King Kong film and its Japanese counterpart, modeling and portraying an anthropoid for the 1938 production The King Kong that Appeared in Edo. He joined Toho as an assistant director sometime later, but continued to act under his pseudonym Sanshiro Sagara. He again worked as a modeler in 1948 for the Takara Productions film, Ninjutsu Jiraiya, pioneering the use of compound latex for monster suits in the process. In 1951, he established the Ohashi Crafts Company and traveled to the United States to join the art staff of Disneyland in Los Angeles, California, where he worked for two years. In 1954, Ohashi acted as a consultant for the production of the monster suit for Ishiro Honda's Godzilla, after a failed first attempt by Teizo Toshimitsu and his associates. The following year, he helped to model the suit of the Snowman for Half Human, this time also portraying the character under his Sagara alias. From the late 1950s through the 1960s, Ohashi continued to alternate between acting and modeling work, appearing in a handful of Akira Kurosawa's films and creating various suits for Daiei, Toei, P-Productions, and more. Notably, he was responsible for the monster Agon from the 1963-produced miniseries, Agon, for which he also served as director. He traveled again to America to create masks for Planet of the Apes, and in 1977 worked on his final film, Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds. Ohashi passed away on September 20, 1989, at the age of 74.

Selected filmography

Modeler

• The King Kong that Appeared in Edo (1938)
• Godzilla (1954) - Modeling consultant [disputed]
• Half Human (1955)
• The Mysterians (1957)
• Suzunosuke Akado: Defeat the Demon-Faced Gang (1957)
• Suzunosuke Akado: The Birdman with Three Eyes (1958)
• Suzunosuke Akado: The Thunder Man of Kurokumo Valley (1958)
• The Demon of Mount Oe (1960)
• Buddha (1961)
• Killer Whale (1962)
• Agon (TV 1968)
• Jungle Prince (TV 1970)
• Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)

Actor

• The King Kong that Appeared in Edo (1938) as ape [as Ryunosuke Kabayama]
• Half Human (1955) as the Snowman [as Sanshiro Sagara]

Miscellaneous

• Agon (1968) - Director / director of special effects
• Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977) - Wire operator

Monsters modeled

• Anthropoid (The King Kong that Appeared in Edo)
• Godzilla (Godzilla; consultant, disputed)
• Snowman (Half Human; head, used only in publicity stills)
• Moguera (The Mysterians)
• Killer Whale (Killer Whale)
• Agon (Agon)
• Plesiosaurus, Rhamphorhynchus (Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds)

Gallery

• 

  Fuminori Ohashi in the Snowman suit during production of Half Human

• 

  Fuminori Ohashi modeling the Plesiosaurus and Rhamphorhynchus for Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds

References

This is a list of references for Fuminori Ohashi. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Bibliography

• Izumi, Hayayuki (8 May 2000). Hyakkai of the Silver Screen. Seidosha. ISBN 978-4791758098.

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