Sonny Chiba known for The Storm Riders, Kill Bill

TOKYO • Japanese action star Sonny Chiba - who was known for ultra-violent martial arts movies and in 2003 was elevated to a new level of cinematic trendiness when one of his superfans, director Quentin Tarantino, gave him a role in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) - died on Thursday. He was 82.

His manager and friend Timothy Beal said the cause was Covid-19. Oricon, the Japanese news service, reported that he died at a hospital in Kimitsu, Japan.

Chiba, who also acted under the name Shinichi Chiba, was born Sadaho Maeda on Jan 22, 1939, in Fukuoka, Japan.

He was trained in karate and other martial arts, and began turning up on Japanese television in his early 20s.

His acting career received a boost when he was signed by Japan's Toei studio in the early 1960s.

He made numerous movies, mostly samurai dramas, with Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, who gave him some of his earliest roles.

In the 1970s, with martial arts movies enjoying broad popularity thanks to United States-born Chinese star Bruce Lee, Chiba became widely known in Japan and beyond, especially because of The Street Fighter (1974) and its sequels.

The movie, in which Chiba's character battled gangsters, was so violent that when it was released in the US, it was said to have been the first film given an X rating for violence alone.

The Street Fighter and other Chiba movies made an impression on Tarantino.

In the homage-filled Kill Bill: Vol. 1, he cast Chiba as swordmaker Hattori Hanzo, who provides actress Uma Thurman's vengeful character with her weapon.

Tarantino brought Chiba back the next year for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) and Chiba enjoyed a latecareer resurgence.

He was a yakuza boss in The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) and a sushi chef in noir thriller Sushi Girl (2012).

He was also known in the Chinese-language entertainment industry for The Storm Riders (1998), a martial arts fantasy film which also featured Hong Kong stars Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng and was based on the popular comic series Fung Wan by artist Ma Wing Shing.

Chiba played the villain Lord Conqueror in the movie, which earned him a Best Actor nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1999.

He also played a yakuza boss in Born To Be King (2000), the sixth and final movie in the Young And Dangerous film series (1996 to 2000) starring Cheng, Jordan Chan and Jerry Lamb.

Mr Beal said that before the pandemic, Chiba had been lined up for a role in Outbreak Z, a zombie film starring Wesley Snipes.

NYTIMES