Eemil Tapio "Tapsa" Hämäläinen (18 June 1922, in Uukuniemi

Uukuniemi

Uukuniemi is a former municipality of Finland.It was located in the province of Southern Finland and was part of the South Karelia region. The municipality had a population of 516 and it covered an area of 156.58 km² of which 54.88 km² was water. The population density was 5.1 inhabitants per...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 – 28 January 2008, Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 Finland) was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 actor. He was a theater counsellor.

Hämäläinen's best known roles were as Salo in the Tuntematon sotilas

Tuntematon sotilas

Tuntematon sotilas, Finnish for "The Unknown Soldier" can refer to any of the following*The Unknown Soldier by Väinö LinnaOr either of the two movies based on the book*The Unknown Soldier *The Unknown Soldier...

(The Unknown Soldier) and counsellor Tuura in the Uuno Turhapuro

Uuno Turhapuro

Uuno Turhapuro is a Finnish comedy character created by Spede Pasanen and played by Vesa-Matti Loiri. Originally appeared in Spede Show during 1971–1973, the character gained popularity through the Uuno Turhapuro films....

films. Tapio Hämäläinen has also appeared in many television programs, such as Naapurilähiö. Hämäläinen lent his voice to The Hemulen

Hemulen

Hemulens are a species of characters in the Moomin series of books by Swedish-speaking Finnish author Tove Jansson. Hemulens feature in several of the books. One Hemulen collects butterflies, and another is an avid skier...

, a policeman and The Groke

The Groke

The Groke is a fictional character in the Moomin world created by Tove Jansson...

of the Moomin TV series.

Hämäläinen played Uuno Turhapuro

Uuno Turhapuro

Uuno Turhapuro is a Finnish comedy character created by Spede Pasanen and played by Vesa-Matti Loiri. Originally appeared in Spede Show during 1971–1973, the character gained popularity through the Uuno Turhapuro films....

's father-in-law Councillor Tuura

Councillor Tuura

Councillor Tuura is a fictional character in the Finnish comedy film series Uuno Turhapuro. He is the father of Uuno's wife Elisabeth Turhapuro , Uuno's father-in-law and married with Reetta Tuura, Elisabeth's mother. Uuno wrings when he speaking the official title of Councillor Tuura, vuorineuvos...

 altogether in 17 Turhapuro-films. Hämäläinen doesn't appear in the film Johtaja Uuno Turhapuro - pisnismies (1998), but Heikki Nousiainen

Heikki Nousiainen

Heikki Nousiainen is a Finnish film actor.Nousiainen entered film in 1971 as both a director and actor in Saatanan radikaalit and has made over 40 Finnish film and TV appearances to date...

played Tuura's role. Hämäläinen was tired of Tuura's role in the 1990s. The shooting of Turhapuro films for five years one after another (1990–1994) and in the spring of 1996 filming a 23-volume television programs contributed to this.