Yasuo Yamada

Yasuo Yamada (山田 康雄, Yamada Yasuo^?, 10 September 1932 – 19 March 1995) was a Japanese actor and voice actor born in Tokyo, Japan.

Yamada left the faculty of literature of Waseda University, and had performed in many stage, radio, and television productions.

He appeared in performances of plays by Hisashi Inoue. His most famous role was Arsène Lupin III from the Lupin III series, starting in 1971 and ending in 1995. He also provided the Japanese dubbed voice for Clint Eastwood. On March 19, 1995 Yasuo Yamada died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 62. At the end of the credits of the film Farewell to Nostradamus (the first Lupin film without Yasuo), there is a tribute: "To Yasuo Yamada, Eternal Lupin the Third: Thank you!" (the message was removed from the first angle of the English language DVD release by Funimation).

Since Yasuo's death, Kanichi Kurita has taken over the role of Lupin the Third. As his last will, Yasuo requested Kurita to replace him, if he were to pass on.

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