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Sometimes credited as Dan Yuma,
Robert Dunham is probably best known for his role
as Antonio, Emperor of Seatopia, in Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973); however, Dunham's
most famous role would have to be that of Mark
Jackson in Dogora
(1964). Dunham was an American living in Japan
during most of the country's "Golden Age"
of cinema, and was cast in several films. What
makes Robert Dunham stand out, from other Caucasian
actors in Japan at the time, is that Robert Dunham
spoke fluent Japanese, and his lines were never
dubbed over by a Japanese actor during his career,
which was a common occurrence for other Caucasian
actors of this period. Beyond his acting credits,
Dunham was also a stunt driver, and ended up lending
his talents to the production of Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1973), where Dunham played
the Seatopia agent on a motorcycle, who gave chase
to the protagonist of the film. Toho had big things
planned for Robert Dunham, following his role
in Dogora
(1964), and had actually proposed a series of
movies featuring the Mark Jackson character. Toho
even sent Dunham to Hollywood with a print of
Dogora
(1964) to try and sell the film to distributors,
and to propose additional Mark Jackson based movies.
Unfortunately for Dunham, who pitched the film
to UPA, the Mark Jackson films were turned down,
as UPA felt they couldn't gauge his acting ability
from the film (his voice was dubbed into English
for the US prints).
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