The great actor Tetsuro Tamba had one of those faces that even casual viewers of Japanese film recognize, even if they aren’t sure why. It’s hard not to recognize him - Tamba was an insanely prolific actor, putting his cool reserve and sly wit at the service of literally hundreds of films. Like Klaus Kinski, a similar master of the bit part, even a minute of Tamba could add spice to a good movie or liven up a bad one.

While Tamba is most well-known in the West for his role as superswank spymaster Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (memorable for its hollow volcano and the ninjas), genre fans have probably seen Tamba in dozens of films without even realizing it. Tamba continued to act until the year of his death, for example, in 2001 alone, Tamba played the stern but lovable Grandpa in Takashi Miike’s Happiness of the Katakuris and the tough art critic in Teruo Ishii’s Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf (see review here - the “making of” featurette on the recent DVD captures some wonderful moments between Tamba and the younger crew).

Though the majority of his work was done in Japan, Tamba took on a number of roles in Hong Kong films as well. He played the central figure in Chang Cheh’s famous Water Margin (aka Seven Blows of the Dragon). He also appeared out of nowhere in The Story of Ricky to test his nephew by throwing tombstones at him.

His personal life was as fascinating as his screen persona. Tamba was born in 1922 to an aristocratic family and began working in films in 1951. After a rocky start, Tamba became one of the most popular actors in Japan, and starred in a long series of disaster films. According to Patrick Macias’s encyclopedic Tokyoscope (a great source on Tamba’s life), Tamba repeatedly stated in interviews that he never turned down a role, that he never memorized a script, and that he never sat through an entire film that he appeared in. Later in life, in addition to appearing in up to 7 films a year, Tamba became the spearhead for the Dai Reien Kai (Great Spirit World) spiritual cult movement, and churned out a number of extremely odd videos based around his theories of the afterlife, all the while continuing to appear in B-movies.

Though many of his films were not of the hghest quality (though they were usually fun), over the years Tamba has worked with most of the great Japanese directors - in addition to Miike and Ishii, he acted in films by Shohei Imamura (Pigs and Battleships), Kihachi Okamoto (Sugata Sanshiro), Kinji Fukasaku (Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Message from Space, Shogun’s Samurai), Juzo Itami (A Taxing Woman 2), Masahiro Shinoda (Samurai Spy), Hideo Gosha (Goyokin, Bandits v. Samurai Squadron) and he appeared in two of Masaki Kobayashi’s greatest films, Harakiri and Kwaidan (both available from Criterion). In addition to the movies mentioned above, Tamba just recently appeared in Takashi Miike’s Graveyard of Honor, Gozu, Yakuza Demon, and Deadly Outlaw Rekka, and Yoji Yamada’s rightfully acclaimed samurai drama Twilight Samurai.

Tamba was a pillar of cinematic cool whether playing an espionage agent or a grandfather, and it’s sad to know his distinctive blocky face won’t be turning up again. Still with over 300 films under his belt, it’s safe to say that there will always be a Tetsuro Tamba film that I still haven’t seen. Maybe, up in the Great Spirit World, Tamba will finally have time to watch one of his own movies.

(Thanks to CSB’s own Jeff and KFC Cinema for drawing Tamba’s passing to our attention.)

::: See additional coverage of Tetsuro Tamba