Actor Masakazu Tamura, who appeared in a number of popular TV series and films in his 60-year career, died of heart failure at a hospital in Tokyo last month, people close to him said Tuesday. He was 77.
Tamura, a son of Kabuki star Bando Tsumasaburo, was a household name throughout Japan for playing an awkward but comical police officer in a 1994-2006 TV drama series "Furuhata Ninzaburo," featuring guest villains such as members of the now-disbanded pop idol group SMAP and former baseball player Ichiro Suzuki.
