Actor And Martial Arts Legend Sonny Chiba Has Died At 82

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/ [login to see] /actor-martial-artist-sonny-chiba-dead
Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba looked like he knew how to crack a skull. In his 1974 international breakout movie, The Street Fighter, Chiba plays a mercenary who relentlessly smashes goons' faces, breaks their bones and punches them so hard they spit up in visceral gushes. A cult figure in the United States, Chiba found wider popularity after appearing in such films as the Kill Bill series and The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Chiba died Thursday at age 82, his management company announced. His friend Ryuji Yamakita, the director and producer of Chiba's final film, confirmed he died in a hospital in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, following complications from COVID-19.

Sonny Chiba was a prolific actor in Japanese film and TV, working closely with the famed production company Toei. His fame broadened with the international release of The Street Fighter, a bloody trudge through the Japanese underground that upon its American release was billed as having the "first X-rated fight scenes in screen history." The movie lived up to its press hype, with Sonny Chiba brute-forcing his way through nameless bad guys. (Be warned that in the clip below, Chiba punches out an opponent's teeth).