Kenji Sahara

Kenji Sahara
Born	Tadashi Ishihara (1932-05-14) 14 May 1932 Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954 – present

Kenji Sahara (佐原 健二 Sahara Kenji, born Tadashi Ishihara) (born 14 May 1932) is a Japanese actor. He was born in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa. His real name is Masayoshi Kato (加藤 正好 Katō Masayoshi). Initially he used the name Tadashi Ishihara before changing it when he secured the lead role in Rodan (1956).

Selected filmography

Sahara did a lot of work for the Toho Company, the studio that has so far has produced twenty-eight Godzilla movies. He appeared in more of the Godzilla series from any other actors.

Also, he is the actor who was often relied on in most of the films by Directors Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya.

Since Director Tsuburaya was not able to fail in the first time of the Tsuburaya pro's beginning by any means, he left all the works to Sahara. This was winning a great success and the Tsuburaya pro was able to make the Ultraman series which continues till the present.

He has appeared in many supporting roles.

Sahara is famous as a mainstay of Toho special-effects movies and the Ultraman series.

• Farewell Rabaul (1954)
• Godzilla (1954) - Young Lover On The Sound
• Yuki No Koi (1955) - (credited as Tadashi Ishihara)
• Seifuku No Otome Tachi (1955) - Hideya Fujiwara (credited as Tadashi Ishihara)
• Aoi Me (1956) - Jirô Hayashi (credited as Tadashi Ishihara)
• Street of Shame (1956)
• Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) - Man on Boat
• Norihei No Daigaku (1956) - (credited as Tadashi Ishihara)
• People of Tokyo, Goodbye (1956) - (credited as Tadashi Ishihara)
• Rodan (1956) - Shigeru Kawamura (credited as Kenji Sawara)
• Yoru no kamome (1957)
• Meshiro Sanpei monogatari (1957) - Otsuka
• Zoku Sazae-san (1957)
• Hikage no musume (1957)
• Daigaku no samurai tachi (1957) - Yamada
• The Mysterians (1957) - Joji Atsumi
• Song for a Bride (1958)
• The Badger Palace (1958)
• Kiuchi yasuto (1958)
• Anzukko (1958)
• The H-Man (1958) - Dr. Masada
• The Young Beast (1958)
• Zokuzoku salaryman shussetai koki (1958)
• Josei S.O.S. (1958)
• Otona niwa wakaranai: Seishun hakusho (1958)
• Salaryman jikkai (1959)
• Onna gokoro (1959)
• Gokigen musume (1959)
• Mothra (1961)
• Gorath (1962)
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
• Attack of the Mushroom People (1963)
• Atragon (1963)
• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
• Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
• Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
• None but the Brave (1965)
• War of the Gargantuas (1966)
• Son of Godzilla (1967)
• Destroy All Monsters (1968)
• Godzilla's Revenge (1969)
• Space Amoeba (1970)
• Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster (1974)
• Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no mon (1974)
• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
• Hitman (1998)
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Sahara was also the lead in the first of the Ultra series, Ultra Q. He also appeared in a number of subsequent Ultra series, including:

• Ultra Q (1966)- as Jun Manjoume
• Ultra Seven (1967–1968)
• Return of Ultraman (1971-1972)
• Ultraman 80 (1980–1981)
• Ultraman Nexus (2004–2005)
• Ultraman Mebius (2006–2007)

His latest Ultraman appearance was in the 2008 Ultraman movie, Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers.

External links

• Kenji Sahara at the Internet Movie Database
• Biondi, Robert. Satoko Yoshimaru & Takahiko Mamiya (trans.) Winter 1997. "An Interview with Kenji Sahara: 40 Years of Keeping Godzilla at Bay", Kaiju Fan Online. Originally published in Kaiju Fan.