Influential Japanese film director born May 7th, 1911, often credited as being the father of Godzilla. His name is a combination of "I" (or Ino), meaning "boar" and "shirô," meaning fourth boy in the family. Originally, the young Honda had aspirations of becoming an artist. However, as he moved into his teens, it was cinema that became his number-one interest.
He attended Nippon University studying art, but was drafted by the Japanese military and spent nearly eight years in uniform. After a period of imprisonment in China as a POW, he returned to Japan to join Tôhô Studios, where, soon afterward, he became acquainted with SFX wizard Eiji Tsuburaya. The two worked on a handful of films before collaborating on the groundbreaking monster epic Godzilla (1954) (aka "Godzilla"). Honda was also at the director's helm for Rodan (1956) (aka "Rodan"), Bataille dans l'espace (1959) (aka "Battle in Outer Space"), Mothra (1961) (aka "Mothra"), Matango (1963), and Les envahisseurs attaquent (1968) (aka "Destroy All Monsters"). Although the Japanese monster films had been derided by some critics, Honda was especially proud of his contribution to this rather unique aspect of the fantasy and science-fiction genres.
Honda was a lifelong friend of fellow Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and Honda worked on several of Kurosawa's landmark films including Chien enragé (1949) (aka "Stray Dog"), Kagemusha, l'ombre du guerrier (1980) (aka "Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior"), and Ran (1985).
Honda passed away aged 81 on February 28th, 1993, with Akira Kurosawa delivering the eulogy at his funeral.
