Keiichirō Akagi

Keiichirō Akagi (赤木 圭一郎, Akagi Keiichirō), born Chikahiro Akatsuka (赤塚 親弘, Akatsuka Chikahiro) was a Japanese actor. Akagi appeared in over 26 films in his short three-year career. Kenju burai-chō series[1] and The Call of the Foghorn are Akagi's notable films.[1]

In 1958, he joined the Nikkatsu company. In 1960, Akagi won Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year.[2][3][4] Akagi was one of the box office hitter of Nikkatsu company alongside Yujiro Ishihara and Akira Kobayashi.[5][6][7] At around 12:20 PM on February 14, 1961, during a lunch break while shooting Gekiryū ni Ikiru Otoko, where he served as a replacement for injured Yūjirō Ishihara, Akagi was driving a go-cart brought by a salesman in the Nikkatsu studio but spun out of control and crashed into a steel door of a large tool warehouse at a speed of more than 60 km/h. He regained consciousness for a time, but on February 20 he fell into a coma again and died at 7:50 AM on February 21 of a subdural hematoma associated with a fracture of the cracked frontal bone, at the young age of 21.[7]