“Jins Shamsuddin was among the country’s legendary figures who changed the local film landscape after P Ramlee, who was also a legend. We will definitely miss him,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Jins died at a clinic in Taman Melawati where he was taken after complaining of difficulty breathing when having tea at home at 5.45pm. He was 81.

Jins had acted in over 40 local and international films as well as directed movies in his 50 years in the industry, starting with his first movie entitled Matahari in 1951.

Salleh said Jins became well known as the Malay James Bond after playing the character Jefri Zain, a secret agent, in the movie entitled Gerak Kilat, which had successfully introduced local movie fans to the action-thriller genre.

He also said that Jins, a protégé of P Ramlee, had managed to inspire Malaysians as well as people from neighbouring countries with his acting and directing and delivery of messages of patriotism, courage, devotion, loyalty and struggles as portrayed in the movie Bukit Kepong that he directed.

Jins, whose real name was Mohamed Zain Shamsuddin, was greatly honoured by the government with the appointment as a senator for two terms, from 2004 to 2011, to represent the film community. He was the first actor to be accorded that status.

In addition, the actor, who was born in Taiping, Perak, was also conferred the Seniman Negara (National Artiste) award by the government in 2009 for his contribution to the development of the national film industry.