Haruo Nakajima, the suit actor who played Godzilla in the original films as well as many other monsters, just passed away. I felt this one shouldn't be missed just because he's Japanese and no one ever saw his face.
:(
He made Godzilla (and Rodan too) such great monsters and the amount of physical pains he recieved as them (once the godzilla head caught on fire and multiple times the wires broke during the Rodan flight scenes) showed how much he loved those great monster parts.
Yeah, DJ is right. I've heard a bit about that stuff too, and he really endured a great deal to bring those characters to life. The fact that the same actor was responsible for so many of those Godzilla films helped to give a continuity and personality that would otherwise be completely lacking.