Chiaki Minoru

Aspired to be an actor since childhood and debuted in theater in 1936 at age 19.

Served in the army from 1939 through 1942, stationed at Sakhalin.

His performance in the play "Dataii" inspired Kurosawa Akira to produce The Quiet Duel (1949) and to cast Chiaki in his first film role in Stray Dog (also 1949). Chiaki went on to appear in several Kurosawa films over the next decade.

His and Fujiwara Kamatari's peasant characters in The Hidden Fortress (1958) were cited as direct inspirations for R2-D2 and C-3PO in Star Wars (1977).

Ironically, he outlived all his co-stars from Seven Samurai (1954), despite being the first casualty in that film.