Kumi Mizuno

Kumi Mizuno in one of her most celebrated roles, Miss Namikawa in Invasion of Astro Monster

Best known for her role of Miss Namikawa in Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965). Kumi Mizuno is, indisputably, Toho's most popular actress. Mizuno was born in 1937 with the birth name Maya Igarashi. By the time she started working for Toho on A Bridge for Us Alone (1958), her second movie, her name had changed to Kumi Mizuno. In the late 50's and early 60's Mizuno's career was booming, and she quickly became a favorite of director Ishiro Honda. Mizuno was often paired with Nick Adams, whenever he did a film for Toho; consequently, rumors of a romance between the two were common occurrence until Mizuno denied it during a interview in 1996. Despite the huge number of films she did early on in her career, Mizuno is best known for her Sci-fi roles in the two Godzilla films and the two Frankenstein films done by Toho in the mid 60's. She became such a cult figure amongst the kaiju fandom that Toho brought her back in 2002 to play a role in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and again in 2004 for Godzilla: Final Wars.

Kaiju Filmography

• Gorath (1962)
• Matango (1963) as Mami Sekiguchi
• Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) as Sueko Togami
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) as Miss Namikawa
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) as Daiyo
• The War of the Gargantuas (1966) as Akemi
• Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) as Prime Minister Machiko Tsuge
• Godzilla: Final Wars as Earth Defense Force Commander Akiko Namikawa