Tomoyuki Tanaka

Tanaka with 3 Godzillas

Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中 友幸Template:Whijcs, Tanaka Tomoyuki) was a Japanese film producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla movies. He was born in Osaka, Japan on April 26, 1910, and died in Tokyo on April 2, 1997.

Soon after graduating from Kansai University in 1940, Tanaka joined Toho Studios. After four years with the company, he began producing his own films. In his 60-year career with Toho, Tanaka produced more than 200 films.

He is best known as the creator, with director Ishirō Honda and special-effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya, of Godzilla, the towering embodiment of post-World War II anxiety. Tanaka created Godzilla in 1954 in an effort to illlustrate the terror Japanese felt after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The classic Godzilla would spawn a series of sequels, adding up to 28 films by 2004.

In addition to other sci-fi thrillers (often with the other three members of the Godzilla team: Honda and Tsuburaya, and composer Akira Ifukube) such as The Mysterians and Matango, Tanaka produced films directed by the acclaimed Akira Kurosawa. One of them, Kagemusha was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar and took the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes, tying with All That Jazz. 

He has a dedication to his death in GODZILLA.

Kaiju Filmography

Producer

• Godzilla (1954)
• Half Human (1955)
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
• Rodan (1956)
• The Mysterians (1957)
• H-Man (1958)
• Varan (1958)
• Battle in Outer Space (1959)
• The Three Treasures (1959)
• The Human Vapor (1960)
• Mothra (1961)
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
• Gorath (1962)
• Atragon (1963)
• Matango (1963)
• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
• Dogora (1964)
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
• Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)
• War of the Gargantuas (1966)
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
• King Kong Escapes (1967)
• Son of Godzilla (1967)
• Destroy All Monsters (1968)
• Latitude Zero (1969)
• All Monsters Attack (1969)
• Space Amoeba (1970)
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
• Zone Fighter (TV 1973)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
• Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)
• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
• The War in Space (1977)
• Sayonara Jupiter (1984)
• The Return of Godzilla (1984)
• Princess from the Moon (1987)
• Gunhed (1989)
• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 (1993)
• Yamato Takeru (1994)
• Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994)
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)