Tetsuro Tamba
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Tetsuro Tamba (丹波 哲郎 Tanba Tetsurō; b. July 17 1922 in Tokyo; d. September 25 2006 in Tokyo, aged 84, from heart failure due to pneumonia) was a Japanese actor.
He was perhaps best known by Western audiences for his role as Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967). He did not speak English so he was dubbed by Robert Rietti.
By then, he had among other roles appeared in two films by director Masaki Kobayashi: Harakiri and Kwaidan. He also portrayed the lead character in the police dramas KeyHunter and G-Men '75, the latter of which remains his best-known role in Japan.[1]
He also portrayed the voice of the "Cat King" in the original Japanese version of the Studio Ghibli anime film The Cat Returns.
More recently, he had parts in Twilight Samurai and two Takashi Miike films, The Happiness of the Katakuris and Gozu, as well as acting as a spokesperson for the Dai Rei Kai spiritual movement.
Tamba's son, Yoshitaka Tanba, is also an actor.
In GoGo Sentai Boukenger Task 37, Toshiro Tanbara who played by actor Tetsuo Morishita is possibly a homage to him.
[edit] External links
- Tetsuro Tamba at the Internet Movie Database
- CNN Obituary, retrieved September 26, 2006ja:丹波哲郎
