Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Remembering Tetsuro Tamba


Shozaburo Tanba was born on July 17, 1922 in Tokyo, Japan. Known to the film world as Tetsurô Tamba, he appeared in nearly 200 films over his five and a half decade career starting with a small role in 1952’s “Murder Suspect”. He achieved his greatest fame for roles in the films “The Human Revolution” (1973) and “The Castle of Sand” (1974). He also appeared in the Japanese eco-disaster box office hit “Japan Sinks” (1973).

Tamba worked with noted director Kinji Fukasaku on “The Yakuza Papers: Proxy War” (1973) the third volume of the director’s landmark series and again for 1978’s campy Star Wars knockoff “Message From Space”. Tamba worked with director Takishi Miike on the critically acclaimed “Happiness of The Katakuris” (2001) and the cult favorite “Gozu” (2003). He contributed the voice of the Cat King to 2002’s Studio Ghibli animated film “The Cat Returns”. “You Only Live Twice” was one of three English language films that Tamba appeared in. His other English-speaking roles were in the films “The Bushido Blade” (1981) and “Tokyo Pop” (1988). Tamba’s final film role was a cameo appearance in the remake of “Japan Sinks”. Tamba appeared in only one Euro-western “The 5-Man Army” (1969) as Samurai.

Tetsurô the father of actor Yoshitaka Tamba [1955- ], died in Tokyo of pneumonia on September 24, 2006.

Today we remember Tetsurô Tamba on what would have been his 90th birthday.


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