Translate

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Remarkable Man - Harold Sakata


Harold Sakata as Oddjob in Goldfinger (1964).

Sent by Fabienne from Brussels, Belgium.

Toshiyuki Sakata (坂田 敏行, Sakata Toshiyuki; July 1, 1920 – July 29, 1982), known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor. He won a silver medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later became a popular professional wrestler under the ring name Tosh Togo, wrestling primarily for various National Wrestling Alliance territories as a tag team with Great Togo.

Sakata also wrestled in Japan for the Japanese Wrestling Association between 1955 and 1957, and was an early mentor and sometimes-tag-partner to Rikidōzan. On the basis of his wrestling work, he was cast in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) as the villain Oddjob, a role he would be closely associated with for the rest of his life (read more).



No comments: