Los Angeles: Actor James Shigeta, best known for playing the role of an ill-fated chief executive in Bruce Willis-starrer 'Die Hard', has passed away at the age of 81. Shigeta died yesterday July 27 in LA, said The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor, who originally hailed from Hawaii, was a top Asian-American actor of the early 1960s and starred in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical 'Flower Drum Song' (1961).