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Sonny Chiba
Photo: Rodrigo Reyes Marin / imago images / AFLO
The Japanese actor Shinichi Chiba, better known as Sonny Chiba, died of complications from Covid-19 disease: According to information from Japan Oricon News, he died on Thursday at the age of 82 of pneumonia.
Chiba had previously been treated in a hospital since August 8.
A representative confirmed the death to the industry journal "Variety".
Sonny Chiba appeared in various karate films from the sixties.
In the West he became a household name for genre cinema fans in the mid-seventies with "The Streetfighter" series of films.
Chiba was probably the first martial arts fighter to become a star.
One of those Eastern fans in the West was Quentin Tarantino, who already set a monument to the karate film hero in his screenplay for "True Romance" - the main character presents himself with a Sonny Chiba triple feature for his birthday.
In his Asian homage "Kill Bill Volume 1" Tarantino even used Sonny Chiba as an actor: He plays the sushi chef who turns out to be the legendary armorer Hattori Hanzo - and Uma Thurman's figure makes the ultimate samurai sword.
The brief appearance brought the then 64-year-old a considerable late career in the West - he was already admired in Japan anyway.
Among other things, Chiba played in 2006 in the third film in the action series "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift".
"Return of the Street Fighter" from 1974 got a new title in the DVD version in Germany: "Sonny Chiba - The Relentless Executor".
His last film appearance was in 2012 in the thriller "Sushi Girl": Sonny Chiba played the owner of a sushi restaurant.
ime / feb