Hi all,
I’m sorry to report it appears voice actor Toru Oohira has passed away. He was known to us as the voice of Dr. Nambu throughout the Gatchaman TV series and other side projects. According to Yomiuri Online, He died on April 12, at 86 years of age from complications of pneumonia. Strangely, three news outlets had stories about his passing, but none of the links are currently active. I don’t know why they have been removed, but I do think the story is genuine. This is all I could find still mentioning the story (in Japanese and the follow-through link does not work).
He joined the Nippon Broadcasting System as a producer and voiceover talent in 1954 after graduating from Meiji University. Soon after he went to Tokyo Broadcasting System as an actor, before leaving them in 1958 to pursue voice acting.
His work in earliest days of Japanese animation included roles in Iron Arm Atom (Astro Boy - 1963) and Jungle Emperor (Kimba, the White Lion - 1965). Mr. Oohira did a lot of early work at Tatsunoko from about 1967 to 1984. His most popular character at Tatsunoko was probably the comedic Genie Hakushon character from 1969. As with his Dr. Nambu character he played Genie Hakushon in numerous side projects through the years.
Mr. Oohira’s sixty-plus year career covered the gamut of a voice acting professional, from commercials to TV, films and video games. He dubbed some iconic foreign TV roles like Clark Kent / Superman (from the George Reeves 1952 Adventures of Superman series), Fred Flintsone from The Flintstones and Homer Simpson from The Simpsons. He also achieved notoriety as the series narrator in a host of tokusatsu TV programs from 1964’s Ninja Squad Moonlight (from Tatsuo Yoshida, creator of Gatchaman), to Secret Squad Go Ranger 1975, and Spider-Man (quite a different live action version than ours in 1978!), Battle Fever J 1979, through to Dinosaur Squad Jyu Ranger in 1992.
It’s very sad to see another voice acting pioneer and founding member of the Gatchaman family pass.
The Other Jason
www.battleoftheplanets.info
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by The Other Jason on 01-05-2016 at 02:54.
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