Kenpachiro Satsuma, the suit actor of Godzilla during the franchise’s Heisei era, has passed away at the age of 76.

The news of Satsuma’s passing came via social media posts from his family (via Yahoo Japan), noting he died on December 16th from interstitial pneumonia.

His family noted he had been suffering from pneumonia repeatedly since last November, but his condition turned for the worse on the 14th, and only days later he passed away.

Thank you very much for your support,” his family said in the obituary. “My father has been suffering from interstitial pneumonia since November.”

They added, “I wanted to visit my father in the hospital in December, but the influenza epidemic is spreading in the hospital, so I had to stop the visitation. I wanted to at least wish him a Happy New Year. I decided to send a postcard.”

Satsuma was born in Kagoshima back on May 27th, 1947, and when he reached adulthood, worked at a steel mill. He later entered the Nikkatsu Acting Institute in 1967 and started a career as a Nikkatsu actor. His biggest role, both literally and figuratively, was the legendary Godzilla from 1984 through 1995.