Kei Tomiyama

Kunichika Tomiyama, better known by his stage name Kei Tomiyama, was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator. He was affiliated with multiple talent agencies during his career, including Aoni Production and Production Baobab.
Tomiyama is best known for his roles in Tiger Mask, Space Battleship Yamato, UFO Robo Grendizer, the Time Bokan series, GeGeGe no Kitarō 3rd Series, Chibi Maruko-chan, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Early life and education

Kunichika Tomiyama was born on October 13, 1938, in Anshan, a city that was then part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. He was the oldest of three brothers; but his siblings died in an accident and from malnutrition, respectively. After World War II, his family returned to Japan, first moving to Miyazaki Prefecture, and then to Setagaya ward in Tokyo.
He was a "theater boy" who had been a member of school drama clubs since he was in junior high, and was part of the drama club of Seisoku High School in Minato, Tokyo. He studied theater at the Nihon University College of Art, but after deciding that "studying at school and actually acting are different," he dropped out to become a trainee at the Ashi Theater Company.

Career

He joined the Toho Children's Theatre Company in his second year of high school in 1955, making his stage debut as the pirate Kuroji in the Kusadao Mizusawa play Golden Nightingale. After about three years of activity, he left the company to focus on his university studies.
After the Ashi Theater Company, which he joined after dropping out of university, disbanded two years into his tenure, he took entrance exams for other theater companies, and worked a variety of menial jobs, including as a bartender, host, and a food hawker.
In 1957, he made his voice acting debut as Takemaru in the Tohoku Broadcasting Company radio drama Genkuro Monogatari. As voice acting was not considered a full-time occupation for actors like him to pursue yet, he initially worked in the field to earn money for his theater career and living expenses.
His first few voice acting roles in anime were secondary characters in shows such as Gigantor, Prince Planet, Astro Boy, Oraa Guzura Dado, Speed Racer, Ōgon Bat, Princess Knight, Animal 1, and Dokachin the Primitive Boy.
His first starring role was as Sabu in Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae in 1968. He became a popular voice actor with his distinctively tender voice, portraying numerous roles during his career, ranging from heroic to comedic, and young to old.

Death

At 9:07 am on September 25, 1995, Tomiyama suddenly died of pancreatic cancer in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the age of 56.
In 2007, he was posthumously awarded the Special Achievement Award at the first Seiyu Awards.

Successors

After Tomiyama's death, numerous voice actors took over his ongoing roles.

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.