The talent agency 81 Produce announced today on their website that Toshiya Ueda, a voice actor under their agency’s supervision, had passed away on the eighth of February at the age of 88. His cause of death was not announced by the agency.
Past roles, activities, and more
Toshiya Ueda was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido in 1933.
He was a prolific dubber of English media, having a role in the Japanese dub of The A-Team, working on a variety of other English dubs, and holding the role of Owl in the Japanese dub of Winnie the Pooh and Kingdom Hearts, and Splinter in the Japanese dub of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A few more notable roles in Japanese dubbing include his work voicing Dana Elcar, Itzhak Stern from Schindler’s List, and playing several characters on House of Mouse.
In terms of anime, he voiced Nefertiti Cobra from One Piece (the King of Alabastia and father of Vivi), played Blaine from Pokemon, and was very well known for his role as Tomio “Grandpa Tommy” Tamura in the anime Prince Mackaroo, a role he’s held since 1998. Along with this, he voiced Georges Lazare in Vampire Wars, Noriaki Watanabe in Midoriya High School Koshien, and Viik in the Promised Neverland. Along with this, he also had minor roles in anime such as Dirty Pair, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Lupin III: Part Two, Master Keaton, Gatchaman, Doraemon, and Golgo 13.
He was also known for his voiceover work in various NHK special documentaries, as well as his work in radio for TBS. He also worked to voice several tokusatsu characters from Choushinshei Flashman, Hikari Sentai Maskman, and Gekisou Sentai Carranger.
The roles listed here are by no means exhaustive. Ueda has over 100 credits in his anime work alone, and over 100 more in his dubs of English media. He had a long and storied career in the field of Japanese dubbing and animation.
What were Toshiya Ueda’s agency’s comments on his passing?
On his agency’s site, they wrote the following regarding his passing:
“Toshiya Ueda, an actor that we represent through our agency, passed away on February 8, 2022. In accordance with the wishes of the family of the departed, the funeral service was limited to direct relatives of the family only. We would like to express our deepest gratitude and thanks for your kindness and support during his lifetime.”