Yamada Yasuo was a legendary Japanese voice actor born in Tokyo on September 10, 1932. He left Waseda University's literature program to pursue performance work across stage, radio, and television—a decision that led to one of anime's most iconic roles.
Everyone knows him as the original voice of Arsène Lupin III. He voiced the character for nearly a quarter century, from 1971 until his death in 1995, essentially defining how a generation heard the gentleman thief. Beyond anime, Yamada also dubbed major Western actors into Japanese, including Clint Eastwood and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Early in his career, he was affiliated with Gekidan Mingei before going freelance.
Yamada died on March 19, 1995, at age 62, from a brain hemorrhage at Ota-ku Jinbara hospital in Tokyo. The first Lupin III film made after his passing, Farewell to Nostradamus, included a touching tribute in its credits: "To Yasuo Yamada, Eternal Lupin the Third: Thank you!" (though Funimation later removed this from some English DVD releases).
Before his death, Yamada requested that Kurita Kan'ichi take over the role of Lupin should anything happen to him. Kurita has since become the character's official voice actor.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
