20 Things You Didn’t Know About You Only Live Twice (1967)

16. "This Is The Price Of Failure, Mr Bond."

Sean Connery James Bond You Only Live Twice
MGM/UA

For the first half of You Only Live Twice, Mr Osato appears to be the main Bond villain, even though he represents SPECTRE. It is later revealed that Ernst Stavro Blofeld is trying to force America and Soviet Russia to destroy each other so that “a new power” - hinted to be Red China - can dominate the world.

Nevertheless, Teru Shimada’s role as Osato was his most widely-recognised performance, not least as he is assumed to be the main villain by Bond and his allies for most of the film.

Although he had appeared in such memorable movies as The War of the Worlds (1953), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), Run Silent Run Deep (1958), and Batman: The Movie (1966), as well as various television series, he usually undertook small roles and therefore was not well-known to audiences.

He was even working as a janitor at Paramount Studios when Cubby Broccoli and Lewis Gilbert cast him as Osato!

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.