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.
