Yasuo Yamada (山田 康雄 Yamada Yasuo, 10 September 1932 – 19 March 1995) was a Japanese actor and voice actor born in Tokyo, Japan.
Yamada left the faculty of literature of Waseda University, and had performed in many stage, radio, and television productions.
He appeared in performances of plays by Hisashi Inoue. His most famous role was Lupin III from the Lupin III series, starting in 1971 and ending in 1995. He also provided the Japanese dubbed voice for Clint Eastwood and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
On March 19, 1995 Yasuo Yamada died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 62, following a two-year battle with hypokalemia. At the end of the credits of the film Farewell to Nostradamus, there is a tribute: "To Yasuo Yamada, Eternal Lupin the Third: Thank you!" This message only appeared in Japanese prints of the movie and were cut out in the International version.
Since Yasuo's death, Kanichi Kurita has taken over the role of Lupin the Third. As his last will, Yasuo requested Kurita to replace him, if he were to pass on.
Roles[]
As Lupin III[]
- Lupin the Third Part I
- Lupin the Third Part II
- The Mystery of Mamo
- The Castle of Cagliostro
- Lupin the Third Part III
- The Legend of the Gold of Babylon
- Bye-Bye Liberty - Close Call!
- Mystery of the Hemingway Papers
- Steal Napoleon's Dictionary!
- Orders to Assassinate Lupin
- Burn, Zantetsuken!
- Lupin III: The Devil Hands of Hong Kong - Revenge is at the End of the Labyrinth
- Lupin the Third Tokyo Transit~featuring YASUO YAMADA
Writer[]
- Lupin the Third Tokyo Transit ~featuring YASUO YAMADA (with Masako Arikawa)
Notes[]
- His last completed role was Burn, Zantetsuken! and his last role was voicing the trailer of Farewell to Nostradamus. While he was going to voice Lupin in Farewell to Nostradamus, he passed away before the movie could be completed.
- Originally, Yasuo Yamada did not want a successor and wanted the series to end after he passed away. However, producers persuaded him otherwise.[1]
- Kanichi Kurita once phoned up Yasuo Yamada leaving a voicemail with his Lupin voice. Yamada replied back and repeated the entire message as it was in his Lupin voice, adding at the end, "You idiot! I'm Lupin!"[2][3] This was because before becoming the role of Lupin III, Kurita did voice impressions of Yasuo Yamada's Lupin.
- He was furious with Toshio Furukawa's performance of Lupin in The Plot of the Fuma Clan despite allowing the voice actor change. It also caused an awkward relationship with Monkey Punch until his death.
- Both Yamada and Roberto Del Giudice had voiced in The Muppets, Yamada voiced Kermit the Frog in Japanese while Del Giudice voiced Miss Piggy in Italian. His Lupin III costar Gorō Naya voiced Sam the Eagle in Japanese. Additionally, the dub for The Muppet Show was directed by Lupin III voice director Satoshi Kato.
- He dubbed Clint Eastwood in the Japanese dubs of Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, while Gorō Naya dubbed Lee Van Cleef. Kiyoshi Kobayashi dubbed Gian María Volonté in dubs separate to the other two, and also costarred with Yamada and Naya as Captain Clinton in the dub of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- Bore a remarkable resemblance to Lupin which he may or may not have been cast for.
- He was displeased with Lupin the 3rd Part 2 as he felt like it was too kid-friendly. He much preferred Lupin the 3rd Part 1 .
- When Miyazaki gave him the direction for The Castle of Cagliostro to be more subdued, "like Clint Eastwood", Yamada retorted that he can do whatever he wants with Lupin. Miyazaki was outraged at Yamada's arrogance. Later, when Yamada saw the first preview for the film, he apologized to Miyazaki for his rudeness.
- He was outgoing and loved to joke with his friends, but had moments where he was surprisingly shy and socially awkward. He was very assertive and outspoken, but could also be kind and caring.
- He coached Akira Kamiya, who found him an intimidating teacher.
- He became an actor because he thought he could sleep late. He later found to his surprise that he couldn't actually do it.
- When he was lonely, he would get drunk and call his friends at midnight. Kiyoshi Kobayashi recalled that it was annoying at the time, but looked back on it fondly after Yamada's passing.
- He would come into the studio feeling unmotivated to work. Goro Naya attributed it to Yamada's unexpected shyness, that would go away once Yamada actually started recording.