Natsuki Yôsuke

Natsuki joined Toho in 1958, making his screen debut that same year in Honda Ishiro’s The H-Man. He quickly rose to prominence, garnering leading roles in a variety of genres, including war films, period dramas, and salaryman comedies. He appeared as the farmer’s son in Kurosawa Akira’s Yojimbo (1961).

In the realm of kaijû cinema, Natsuki played detective roles in both Dogora (1964) and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). He returned to the franchise decades later to play Dr. Hayashida in The Return of Godzilla (1984), replacing the originally cast Hirata Akihiko, who had fallen ill. Outside of film, Natsuki was a star of the long-running police drama G-Men ’75 and was a dedicated car enthusiast who competed in the Paris-Dakar Rally.