Kei Tomiyama

Kunichika Tomiyama (冨山 邦親, Tomiyama Kunichika, October 31, 1938 – September 25, 1995), better known by his stage name Kei Tomiyama (富山 敬, Tomiyama Kei), was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator from Anshan, Manchukuo. He was also declared the Mel Blanc of Japanese voice acting. During his life, Tomiyama was affiliated with Aoni Production and Production Baobab.

Tomiyama is best known for his roles in Tiger Mask (Naoto Date/Tiger Mask), Space Battleship Yamato (Susumu Kodai), UFO Robo Grendizer (Duke Fleed/Daisuke Umon),the Time Bokan series (Narrator), GeGeGe no Kitaro 3rd Series (Nezumi-Otoko), Chibi Maruko-chan (Tomozō Sakura), and Legend of the Galactic Heroes (Yang Wenli).

Life

Tomiyama dropped out of Nihon University's art department. With his distinctively tender voice, Tomiyama would portray numerous kinds of roles during his career, ranging from heroic, comedic, young, and old. At 9:07 AM on September 25, 1995, Tomiyama suddenly died of pancreatic cancer in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the age of 56. In 2007, Tomiyama was posthumously awarded the Special Achievement Award of the first Seiyu Awards.

Successors

After Tomiyama's death, a number of voice actors took over his ongoing roles.

• Takeshi Aono (Chibi Maruko-chan as Tomozō Sakura)
• Bin Shimada (Chibi Maruko-chan as Tomozo Sakura (after Takeshi Aono's death))
• Nobuo Tobita (Chibi Maruko-chan as Shintarō Honami)
• Tomohiro Nishimura (Soreike! Anpanman as SL Man)
• Junpei Takiguchi (Time Bokan 2000 Kaitō Kiramekiman as the Narrator)
• Toshihiko Nakajima (Time Bokan 2000 Kaitō Kiramekiman as Odatebuta)
• Kōichi Yamadera (Space Battleship Yamato as Susumu Kodai, Idol Defense Force Hummingbird as President Yajima, Grendizer as Duke Fleed (Super Robot Wars), Yatterman as the Narrator and Odatebuta)
• Kenyū Horiuchi (Grendizer as Duke Fleed (Super Robot Wars Complete Box))
• Shinji Ogawa (Jurassic Park as Alan Grant (Sam Neill))
• Yasunori Matsumoto (Bokan Desuyo as Ippatsuman and Odatebuta)
• Hozumi Gōda (Legend of the Galactic Heroes as Yang Wen-li)
• Shigeru Ushiyama (Batman: The Animated Series as Mad Hatter)
• Yoshito Yasuhara (Agatha Christie's Poirot as Arthur Hastings (Hugh Fraser))
• Kappei Yamaguchi (Looney Tunes as Bugs Bunny)
• Chafurin (Barbapapa as Barbapapa)
• Naoki Tatsuta (Winnie-the-Pooh as Rabbit)
• Tomokazu Seki (Area 88 as Micky Simon, Space Emperor God Sigma as Toshiya Dan (Super Robot Wars))
• Masanobu Takashima (Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! as Dr. Wayne Szalinski)
• Seirou Ogino (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as Vampire C)
• Naoki Bando (Starsky & Hutch as Hyoro Pine, Star Trek as Mr. Cato, Kolchak: the Night Stalker as Updike)
• Rokuro Naya (Star Trek as Mr. Cato)
• Michio Hazama (Father of the Bride II as George Banks (Steve Martin))
• Takumi Yamazaki (Shima Spain Village Parque Espana as Don Quixote)
• Yoshimasa Hosoya (Grendizer Giga as Luke Freed)
• Issei Futamata (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 2nd and 3rd films) as Dr. Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis))
• Minoru Inaba (The Car as Luke)
• Osamu Hakusan (Witness as Carter)
• Daisuke Namikawa (Star Trek as (Hikaru Sulu))

In the Harlock Saga, in addition to replacing Tomiyama as Tochiro, Kōichi Yamadera also supplied the voice of Captain Harlock which up to that point was done by Makio Inoue who is still living.

Filmography

Television animation

1960s

• Gigantor (1963)
• Prince Planet (1965)
• Astro Boy (1965) (Saltan)
• Oraa Guzura Dado (1967) (Papa)
• Speed Racer (1967) (Sabu)
• Animal 1 (1968) (Tōjirō)
• Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae (1968) (Sabu (#1-33))
• Star of the Giants (1968) (Haruhiko Bokujō, Kōji Ōta, newspaper reporter)
• Otokoippiki Gaki Taishō (1969) (Mankichi Togawa)
• Tiger Mask (1969) (Naoto Date/Tiger Mask)

1970s

• The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee (1970) (Hutch's Noppo)
• Mokku of the Oak Tree (1972) (Chikaro the Monkey)
• Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972) (Father Alan, Michael)
• Samurai Giants (1973) (Ban Banba)
• Space Battleship Yamato series (1974) (Susumu Kodai)
• Ganba no Bōken (1975) (Gakusha)
• La Seine no Hoshi (1975) (Milan)
• Time Bokan Series (1975) (Narration, Odatebuta, Sasayaki Reporter, Tommy Yama)
• UFO Robo Grendizer (1975) (Daisuke Umon/Duke Fleed)
• Candy Candy (1976) (Terruce Graham Grandchester)
• Arrow Emblem: Hawk of the Grand Prix (1977) (Takaya Todoroki)
• Attack on Tomorrow (1977) (Fuwa, Narrator)
• Jetter Mars (1977) (Ham Egg)
• Science Fiction Saiyuki Starzinger (1978) (Sir Djorgo)
• Animation Kikō: Marco Polo no Bōken (1979) (Marco Polo)
• The Ultraman (1979) (Chōichirō Hikari)

1980s

• Astro Boy (1980) (Rainbow Parakeet)
• Kaibutsu-kun (1980) (Bem)
• Space Emperor God Sigma (1980) (Dan Toushiya)
• Ohayō! Spank (1981) (Fujinami)
• Asari-chan (1982) (Iwashi Hamano/Papa)
• Gyakuten! Ippatsuman (1982) (Sokkyu Go/Ippatsuman)
• Thunderbirds 2086 (1982) (Eric Jones)
• Serendipity the Pink Dragon (1983) (Prime Minister Dolf)
• Once Upon a Time... Space (1984) (Professor Maestro)
• Yume Senshi Wingman (1984) (Shunichi Hokusou/Keytackler)
• GeGeGe no Kitaro (1985) (Nezumi Otoko)
• Sangokushi (1985) (Zhuge Liang)
• Urusei Yatsura (1985) (Invader (#167))
• Anmitsu Hime (1986) (Gennai Hiraga, delegation leader (#40))
• Maison Ikkoku (1986) (Iioka)
• Oh! Family (1986) (Papa)
• Around the World with Willy Fog (1987) (Rigodon)
• Kimagure Orange Road (1987) (Takashi Kasuga)
• Anpanman (1988) (SL Man)
• What's Michael? (1988) (Michael)
• Blue Blink (1989) (Henry)
• Kimba the White Lion (1989) (Ham Egg)

1990s

• Chibi Maruko-chan (1990) (Tomozou Sakura (First voice), Shintarou Honami (First voice))
• Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (1990) (Sontoku Emichi (#17))
• Musashi, the Samurai Lord (1990) (Bokuden)
• Obatarian (1990) (Yoshio)
• Kyōfu no Kyō-chan (Downtown no Gottsu Ee Kanji) (1994) (Electricity shop assistant)
• Magic Adventures of Mumfie (1994) (Scarecrow)
• Fievel's American Tails (1995) (Chula)

OVA

• Area 88 (1985) (Micky Simon)
• Gall Force (1986) (Exenon)
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988) (Yang Wen-li)
• Patlabor: The New Files (1992) (Zero)
• Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals (1994) (Gush Hassam)

Theatrical animation

• Space Battleship Yamato (1977) (Susumu Kodai)
• Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (1978) (Susumu Kodai)
• Yamato: The New Voyage (1979) (Susumu Kodai)
• Be Forever Yamato (1980) (Susumu Kodai)
• Final Yamato (1983) (Susumu Kodai)
• Golgo 13 (1983) (Robert Dawson)

Dubbing

Live-action

• Rick Moranis
  • Ghostbusters (1989 TV Asahi edition) (Louis Tully)
  • Spaceballs (1993 TBS edition) (Lord Dark Helmet)
  • Ghostbusters II (1992 Fuji TV edition) (Louis Tully)
  • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (Wayne Szalinski)
  • The Flintstones (Barney Rubble)
• Martin Sheen
  • The California Kid (TV edition) (Michael McCord))
  • The Final Countdown (1989 TBS edition) (Warren Lasky)
  • The Dead Zone (1989 TV Asahi edition) (Greg Stillson)
  • The Believers (1991 TV Asahi edition) (Cal Jamison)
  • Wall Street (1992 TV Asahi edition) (Carl Fox)
• Woody Allen
  • Play It Again, Sam (Allan Felix)
  • Stardust Memories (Sandy Bates)
  • Broadway Danny Rose (Danny Rose)
  • Hannah and Her Sisters (Mickey Sachs)
• Steve Martin
  • My Blue Heaven (Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli)
  • L.A. Story (Harris K. Telemacher)
  • Father of the Bride (George Banks)
  • A Simple Twist of Fate (Michael McCann)
• Roddy McDowall
  • Planet of the Apes (Cornelius)
  • The Legend of Hell House (Benjamin Franklin Fischer)
  • The Poseidon Adventure (1976 TBS edition) (Acres)
• Agatha Christie's Poirot (Captain Arthur Hastings (Hugh Fraser))
• The A-Team (Howling Mad Murdock (Dwight Schultz))
• Dave (Alan Reed (Kevin Dunn))
• Family Ties (Steve Keaton (Michael Gross))
• The Greatest American Hero (Ralph Hinkley (William Katt))
• Home Alone (Peter McCallister (John Heard))
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Peter McCallister (John Heard))
• The Jim Henson Hour (Jim Henson)
• Jurassic Park (Doctor Grant (Sam Neill))
• L.A. Law (Arnold Becker (Corbin Bernsen))
• Police Academy series (Lt. Proctor (Lance Kinsey))
• Rain Man (TV edition) (Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman)
• Starsky & Hutch (Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas))
• Star Trek: The Original Series (Hikaru Sulu (George Takei))
• Trading Places (1986 NTV edition) (Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy))
• The Untouchables (1990 Fuji TV edition) (Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith))
• West Side Story (1979 TBS edition) (Ice (Tucker Smith))

Animation

• All Dogs Go to Heaven (Charlie B. Barken)
• Batman: The Animated Series (Mad Hatter)
• Disney's House of Mouse (Jiminy Cricket)
• DuckTales (Donald Duck)
• Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny)
• Spider-Man (Peter Parker/Spider-Man)
• Winnie-the-Pooh (Rabbit)
• Yellow Submarine (Ringo Starr)

External links

• Kei Tomiyama at the Internet Movie Database
• Kei Tomiyama at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kei Tomiyama Fan site