Born Hachiro Nomura, later taking the adoptive surname “Nakamura,” and then inheriting the name of his mentor in kabuki Koshiro Matsumoto VII in 1935. Beginning in 1956, Matsumoto appeared in a broad range of films, from sci-fi, to Crazy Cats comedies, to the athletic Young Guy series, and appearing in works for each of the major studios (Toho, Nikkatsu, Shochiku, and Toei). He returned to kabuki in 1971 when he was 68.

In sci-fi, he is probably best known as the president of the UFO club in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), where he offers a dubious theory explaining how one of the lead characters survived an exploding plane. He’s also well known as the priest wearing the bright red miter-ish hat in Monster Zero (1965).

In his kabuki days, Matsumoto was apparently renowned for his expertise in portraying female characters (!).