Fuminori Ohashi

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Fuminori Ohashi
Fuminori Ohashi
Born January 10, 1915
Ehime, Japan
Died September 20, 1989
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 acting under the aliases 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 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, King Kong 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.[note 1] 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 50s through 60s, 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: Atomic Dragon, 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

Actor

Miscellaneous

Modeled Monsters

Gallery

Notes

  1. In spite of claims of Ohashi having aided in the process, modeler Eizo Kaimai and art staff member Shinji Hiruma have both denied his involvement, claiming that he was still pursuing acting during this time.

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Real World
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