From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Minoru Chiaki (千秋 実 Chiaki Minoru, July 30, 1917 (some sources say April 28)–November 1, 1999) was a Japanese actor who appeared in such films as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress. In Seven Samurai he was the good-natured samurai Heihachi and he was the first of the samurai to be killed. Ironically, in real life he turned out to be the last of the seven actors to die. Later in his career he appeared as a secondary actor in many Toei films. In 1986 he was given the Best Actor prize at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony for his performance in Toei's Gray Sunset (1985). Description above from the Wikipedia article Minoru Chiaki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.