Sonny Chiba Died At 82

Sad news to report everyone, legendary Japanese actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba passed away at the age of 82 this past week. Born as Sadaho Maeda on January 22, 1939, in Fukuoka, Japan, Chiba would spend most of his youth doing sports and at one point was a serious candidate for a spot on the Japanese Olympic team.

Around 1960 he was discovered by Toei film studio and began his acting career with his first three tv-series and they were Seven Color Mask, Messenger of Allah, and Wanted: Demon Fire. In 1961 he star in his first film that went on to became a film series and that film series was the Police Department Story as Detective Nakagawa.

Soon after he was working on both the big and small screen and the rest of the world got to know him in the classic 1974 film series The Street Fighter, Return of the Street Fighter, and The Street Fighter’s Last Revenge. He would go on to star in many classic tv-series and films over the year and he stared in his last film that will be out this year and that film is Bond of Justice: Kizuna.

Sonny Chiba even opened up a martial art school to help both people and film and tv actors and actresses to understand their martial arts and to protect themselves. Thank you Sonny Chiba for all the years of great classic films and tv series I grew up on over the years.