Yoshimitsu Banno

Yoshimitsu Banno (坂野 義光 , Banno Yoshimitsu , March 30, 1931 – May 7, 2017) was a Japanese film director, best known for the cult-classic Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), which he directed and co-wrote. Banno was a special guest at G-Fest XII in 2005. He was an executive producer on Legendary Pictures' Godzilla (2014), and has received posthumous executive producer credit for subsequent projects in the MonsterVerse. He died of subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2017. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) was dedicated to his memory along with Haruo Nakajima's.