Masato Yamanouchi


Masato Yamanouchi was a Japanese Voice [acting in Japan|voice actor]. Over the course of his 58-year career, he was reportedly in more than 20,000 works and dubbed more than 3,000 films. He voiced Grandpa in Future Boy Conan and Dornkirk in The Vision of Escaflowne, and dubbed films for actors including Tyrone Power and Montgomery Clift.

Early life and education

Yamanouchi was born Mikio Yamauchi on April 3, 1929 in Tokyo. He attended Shiba Junior High School, Waseda University School of Law, and Kamakura Academia's theatre program. While at Waseda, he founded Jiyu Butai, a theatre troupe.

Career

In 1945, Yamanouchi joined the NHK Tokyo Broadcasting Company, where he hosted a radio show and debuted as a voice actor in Fuefuki Dōji as Kirino Kojiro. His early training for voice roles centered on dramatic reading, which he initially performed in coffee shops. In 1949, he and linguist Haruhiko Kindaichi started the Broadcast Expression Education Center, where they worked on preserving the Edo language. They began accepting students for dramatic reading, making them the first recitation school in Japan. The center was supported by the NHK's Cultural Fund. After leaving NHK in 1977, Yamanouchi worked for K Production, then became a freelancer.
In 1975, he received the NHK Broadcasting Operation Director's Award and the Arts Festival Award for Excellence in the drama category.

Death

Yamanouchi died on April 7, 2003 in Meguro, the same Tokyo ward in which he was born, due to complications from lung cancer. He was survived by his widow, Yasuko.

Filmography

Dubbing roles