Kenji Utsumi

**Kenji Utsumi** (内海 賢二, *Utsumi Kenji*, August 26, 1937 – June 13, 2013) was an actor, voice actor and narrator from Kitakyūshū, affiliated with the self-founded Ken Production. He was married to fellow voice actress Michiko Nomura until his death.

He appeared in several anime and Japanese dubs of American films and television, voicing a wide range of roles from rowdy villains to goofier characters. He also provided narration for several TV programs and commercials and was one of the most in-demand voice actors of the 1980s.

He is the subject of the 2022 documentary *Sono Koe no Anata e*.

## Biography

Utsumi was born the youngest of five siblings. His parents died when he was a child, and so he was raised by his siblings. In junior high, he started working as a live-in delivery boy at a bento shop. During high school he continued to work while attending night classes, where he joined the theater club. In 1955, while a senior in high school, he applied and was accepted into NHK's Kyushu station's theater troupe. His first jobs were in radio dramas and narration. Before long he was transferred to KBC in Fukuoka (which had only recently opened) to work exclusively as a voice actor.

Feeling limited to the region, Utsumi moved to Tokyo in 1958, with the help of a friend who had moved there prior to work in television commercials for the ad agency Dentsu. With this friend's referral, he was able to get a minor role on a kids show called "*Nekketsu Cactus*" (starring fellow voice actor Hidekatsu Shibata) and became the regular narrator for "*Pirate Viking*". In 1963, he made his anime debut with *Wolf Boy Ken*. As this was Toei Animation's first animated series, Utsumi became a pioneer in anime voice acting. He also worked as a stage actor, and throughout the 1960s and 70s he appeared in a number of TV dramas.

Utsumi joined Masako Nozawa and other voice actors in the Nippon Animation DVD royalty lawsuit, where they were awarded ¥87,000,000 in unpaid royalties from DVD releases.

In 2009 he was awarded the Achievement Award at the 3rd Seiyu Awards. That same year, he appeared in a TV special on Family Gekijo documenting the early days of TV dramas.

On July 13, 2013 at 3:01pm, Utsumi died of petrioneal cancer at a hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo. He was 75. His final acting performance was as the voice of Todoroki-sensei in the anime Silver Spoon.

In 2014 he was awarded the Special Achievement Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards.

A documentary about Utsumi's life and career, *Sono Koe no Anata e*, was released on September 30, 2022.

## As a performer

Michio Hazama described his voice as a "trembling, uvula-shaking voice".

As a voice actor, he became well-known for his dub work, most significantly for American actor Steve McQueen. He became so commonly associated with dubbing McQueen that he was hired to voice the McQueen-like character Vin in the film *Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu! Yūhi no Kasukabe Boys*. He had stated once that, if he had been 20 years younger, he would've wished to dub over Johnny Depp.

He voiced Bliking Boss in the *Casshern* TV anime, and would reprise the role for the OVA series even when the rest of the cast was changed.

## Personal Life

Utsumi met his future wife Michiko Nomura while they were co-starring on the anime Space Ace. In 1984, they founded and managed the voice acting agency Ken Production together, with Utsumi taking the job of chairman. Their son Kentarō Utsumi would later take over the job. Originally Utusmi actually acted as manager to his clients, but as he was still taking jobs himself and was unfamiliar with managerial work, he soon became overworked. At the advice of a friend, Nomura began helping him with the job. Utsumi would go on to appear in four films in the *Doraemon* series, in which Nomura played major character Shizuka-chan.

Utsumi first met Jōji Yanami when they both worked in Kyushu, and when Utsumi first moved to Tokyo he stayed with Yanami and his new wife for awhile. Later, his *Nikketsu Cactus* co-star Hidekatsu Shibata gave him a room to rent on the second floor of his bar and gave him part-time work as a bartender. Utsumi was forever grateful to the two of them for helping him out early on.

When Utsumi died, voiced actors Mami Koyama, Akira Kamiya and Masako Nozawa posted obituaries to their blogs. Koyama also spoke at his funeral. Other voice actors to comment on the occasion on their blogs were *Thomas the Tank Engine* co-star Keiko Toda, *Hajime no Ippo* co-star Rikiya Koyama and friend Kazuhiko Inoue. Nomura's *Doraemon* co-star Nobuyo Ōyama attended the funeral.

## Successors

Following Utsumi's death, his ongoing roles were taken over by the following:

 Teruyuki Tanzawa | Doraemon - Benkei