Hideo Unagami

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Hideo Unagami
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Born 1912
Died November 14, 1957
Occupation Actor, writer
First work Comedy is Endless (1946)
Notable work The H-Man (1958)
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Hideo Unagami (海上日出男,   Unagami Hideo), real name Jiro Ogawa (小川 二郎,   Ogawa Jirō) and sometimes miscredited in English as Hideo Kaijo, was a Japanese actor and writer.

Career

After dropping out of college in 1932, Unagami began a career as a theater actor, only for his career to be interrupted when he was drafted to serve in the military during World War II. After the war, Unagami became an actor for Shochiku and appeared in the 1946 film Comedy is Endless. He soon left Shochiku and returned to theater, starring in and directing a production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths. However, Unagami's theater company soon broke up due to financial difficulties, and he unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Japanese House of Representatives in 1947. Unagami moved to Shibuya and worked as a day laborer, but stomach ulcers hindered his ability to perform this job as well. While receiving medical treatment, Unagami wrote a story titled Life Away from People which he submitted to Iwao Mori of Toho's board of directors. While Unagami's story was not used by the company, Unagami joined Toho's theater division in 1953. Unagami did appear in a few films during his time at Toho, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, but only in bit roles. While working as an actor, Unagami continued to write stories for films, most of which were never adapted. One of his more notable stories was Bride of Godzilla?, a proposal for a follow-up to Godzilla Raids Again. While acting in his final film role in The Mysterians, Unagami wrote a story titled The H-Man Appears, which producer Tomoyuki Tanaka read and chose to adapt into a film. Unfortunately, Unagami passed away of a heart attack on November 14, 1957. His co-star in The Mysterians, Yoshio Tsuchiya, believed that the complications that led to Unagami's fatal heart attack were caused by the physical stress of wearing the Mysterian costume in the film. Despite Unagami's untimely death, Takeshi Kimura adapted his The H-Man Appears story into the screenplay for The H-Man directed by Ishiro Honda in 1958, with Unagami receiving posthumous credit for the story. Additionally, Tanaka was influenced by the presence of a giant flea feeding on Godzilla and Anguirus in Unagami's Bride of Godzilla? story, which led to the inclusion of Shockirus in The Return of Godzilla.

Selected filmography

Actor

Writer

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