Kunichika Tomiyama (October 31, 1938 — September 25, 1995), better known as Kei Tomiyama, was a Japanese voice actor. Born in Manchuria, he dropped out of university to pursue an acting career. Making his debut in 1960, Tomiyama was a veritable Man of a Thousand Voices, from Butt Monkeys, Idiot Heroes, even Retired Badasses. To put it simply, he's essentially the Japanese equivalent to Mel Blanc.
He died of cancer on September 25, 1995 and was awarded posthumously at the first Seiyuu Awards in 2007.
Notable roles:
- The Japanese dub voice of Bugs Bunny (originally voiced by Kazue Takahashi until 1974 and officially replaced by Kappei Yamaguchi after his death, though both have been replaced in certain instances note )
- Tiger Mask/Naoto Date in Tiger Mask (Tora da, tora da! Omae wa tora ni narun da!)
- Nezumi Otoko in GeGeGe no Kitarō (1980's series)
- Tomozou Sakura in Chibi Maruko-chan
- Zhuge Liang in Sangokushi
- Daisuke Umon/Duke Fleed in UFO Robo Grendizer (succeeded in the Super Robot Wars series first by Kenyū Horiuchi, and later by Kōichi Yamadera) (SHOOT IN!!)
- Toshiya Dan in God Sigma (succeeded by Tomokazu Seki in the Super Robot Wars series)
- Susumu Kodai in Space Battleship Yamato (succeeded first by Kōichi Yamadera in any media related to the original 70's series, then by Daisuke Ono in the 2012 remake)
- Yang Wen-li in Legend of the Galactic Heroes (succeeded by Hozumi Gouda in the OVA series, then by Kenichi Suzumura in the 2017 remake)
- Takashi Kasuga in Kimagure Orange Road
- Terence "Terry" Granchester in Candy Candy
- Mickey Simon in the Area 88 OVA (replaced by Tomokazu Seki)
- Dark Helmet in the Japanese dub of Spaceballs
- Joe Yabuki in the pilot film of Tomorrow's Joe
- The Narrator in all Time Bokan series except for Ippatsuman
- In addition to the narrator he also voiced Sokkyu Gou/Ippatsuman, Odatebuta, Himself, Sasayaki Reporter, Gyakuten Oh, and many others
- Tochiro Oyama in Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 anime between 1978 and 1983. Most notably Arcadia Of My Youth and the 1979 Galaxy Express film. (succeeded by Kōichi Yamadera in Super Robot Wars series)
- Scarecrow in Magic Adventures of Mumfie (his last role, and the reason people think the dub ended after "A Treasure Beyond Price".)
- Willow Ufgood in the Japanese dub of Willow
- Choichiro Hikari in The☆Ultraman
- Dubbed voice of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog on The Jim Henson Hour (1992 NHK dub)
- Dubbed voice of Elton John on The Muppet Show (TV Asahi dub, 1981)
- Dubbed voice Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Spider-Man (1967) (later voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka and Toshiyuki Morikawa note in later dubs)
- Dubbed voice of Penrod "Penry" Pooch/Hong Kong Phooey in Hong Kong Phooey (and much like Scatman Crothers, he even sang the theme song
; succeeded by Naoki Tatsuta in the Japanese dub of Wacky Races (2017))
