Legendary suitmaker for Godzilla and other kaiju films has died after a battle with liver cirrhosis. Keizo Murase, whose work can be seen in Varan the Unbelievable, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Gamera, and Terror of Mechagodzilla, had been hospitalized in the past year due to hepatic encephalopathy and developed it again in 2024. He remained in the hospital this second time for 99 days before passing away peacefully. He was 89.
United Entertainment confirmed the passing and announced that a private funeral would happen later in the month. Murase moved to Tokyo and started working in Toho’s special art department as a part-timer, later becoming full-time a year later and growing to be an assistant sculptor on Ishiro Honda’s Varan the Unbelievable in 1958. From there, his career was launched and continued up into 2024 with the release of Brush of the God, known as Kaminofude: The Island with Monsters internationally, his first directorial work.
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He was forced to miss the premiere screening before the film’s release in September, but did appear on stage in a wheelchair after a screening. He spoke happily about the film at the time.
Decompensated cirrhosis deals with the organ’s ability to function properly, and it is considered stage 4 liver fibrosis. Given the only cure is a liver transplant, survival is tough. People can live 12 years in compensated cirrhosis, but that is cut to only 2 years with decompensated cirrhosis.
