Testsuro Tamba, made famous to international audiences as Tiger Tanaka in You Only Live Twice, has died at the age of 84. For FGs of a certain age, the James Bond film was one of the first images of Japan they came across. For a Japanese audience, Tamba was grossly miscast as the head of Japan's secret service because he was patently too young to have reached such a position. During filming, however, Tamba acted as a mentor to the other Japanese actors and he was well-respected in the acting community.
According to the producers on the film, there were great problems finding suitable Japanese actors for the two female leads. Mie Hama was chosen to play the role of Suki but couldn't master the dialogue. Tamba was told over dinner that she would have to be fired and was asked to break it to her. He allegedly came back and said that she would accept the decision without complaint but would have no choice but to commit suicide. The shocked producers asked if he could do anything. Tamba came up with the compromise where Hama would play Kissy Suzuki, swapping roles with Akiko Wakabayashi who instead played Tiger Tanaka's agent Suki - except she managed to rename the character Aki. The producers say they still don't know whether Tamba told them the truth or conned them.
Tamba was acting to the end, he appeared in Takashi Miike's The Happiness of the Katakuris as well as Yoji Yamada's Twilight Samurai which are both known to overseas audiences.
