After graduating from Tatsuno High School and Waseda University School of Letters, Maeda joined the Shochiku Ofuna Film Studio in April 1958. He worked as an assistant director for Yoshishige Yoshida and Minoru Shibuya. In 1964, he made his first feature film debut as a director with "Nippon Paradise" (starring Yoshiko Kayama, along with Daisuke Katō, Mariko Kaga and Hiroyuki Nagato). Since then, he has been mainly focusing on comedy. 