Guest sevenhooks Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 'You Only Live Twice' actor dead TOKYO, Japan (Hollywood Reporter) -- Japanese actor Tetsuro Tamba, best known internationally for playing dapper spymaster Tiger Tanaka in the 1967 James Bond picture "You Only Live Twice," has died in Tokyo. He was 84. His representatives said he died Monday as a result of heart failure after a bout of pneumonia. A veteran of more than 300 films, Tamba made his big screen debut in "Murder Suspect" in 1952. He was best known at home for 1974's "The Castle of Sand" and "The Human Revolution," which debuted in 1973. An accomplished character actor, Tamba specialized in hard-nosed police detectives and similarly tough underworld bosses. He appeared widely on television in the 1970s in such series as "G-Men 75" and "Key Hunter" as well as samurai dramas including "The Three Samurai." Tamba starred in the 1973 big-budget disaster movie "Japan Sinks" and was reportedly invited to make an appearance in the remake, which is showing at Japanese theaters. Immaculately groomed whenever he appeared in public, Tamba -- whose real name was Shosaburo Tamba -- spent his later years researching the spiritual world and proclaimed himself to be a medium. He wrote books and produced documentaries on the subject. Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kungfusamurai Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 My PC was out of action for a couple of weeks, so I couldn't post this last week when I found out. Very sad news. Even though he was mainly a Japanese film actor, he not only did the James Bond film, he also participated in a Hong Kong film - the Shaw Bros. 'The Water Margin'. I was kind of disappointed that his later roles didn't feature him doing much fighting. My favorite role of his was in Three Outlaw Samurai. RIP. KFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tosh Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 50 years in the business, he was great in Seppuku and Samurai Spy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 An excellent actor he'll be missed. He was also in a shaw production called The Water Margin as Jade Dragon if Im not mistaken. In Goyokin he was tremendous. A fine actor. Didn't know he was so into spiritualism. Thanks for the post sevenhooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted April 10, 2009 Member Share Posted April 10, 2009 I just went into the archives and found this... I enjoyed him as Jade Dragon, the cool hero of The Water Margin. His bodyguard was Young Dragon, played with great charisma by David Chiang. Great actor, who also appeared in Sonny Chiba films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Stuntman Jules Posted April 15, 2009 Member Share Posted April 15, 2009 One of my favorite actors ever, Japanese or otherwise. He's sometimes called the Japanese Christopher Lee and I'd probably second that, really, though he's had even more versatility than Lee. He appeared in arthouse classics like Harakiri and Kwaidan, a bloody James Bond film, sleazy exploitation like Bohachi Bushido, special effects extravaganzas like Submersion of Japan and Prophecies of Nostradamus, Hong Kong stuff like Water Margin and Riki Oh. The equally versatile Kinji Fukasaku liked to cast him a lot too, almost as much as Sonny Chiba and Bunta Sugawara. There was seemingly no film too high up or too low for him appear in and the fact that he was freelance, while it kept him out of some of the big stuff, enabled him to effortlessly shuffle back and forth between Toho, Toei, Shochiku, etc and appear in so many different kinds of films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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