'Sazae-san' voice actor Ichiro Nagai dies at 82

Ichiro Nagai, the voice actor of "Sazae-san's" Namihei and "Ranma ½'s" Happosai, died Monday. He was 82.

Nagai was at a Hiroshima television station to record a program’s narration Sunday afternoon. After finishing a meal, he stayed at a hotel in the city. Since he did not leave his room by checkout time the next morning, the hotel staff went in to check on his status, and discovered him collapsed in the bathtub. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Nagai’s agency Aoni Production reported that the cause of death was ischemic heart disease or coronary artery disease.

Nagai’s many voice roles include Konakii-jiji in several versions of "Gegege no Kitaro," Dr Sakezo Sado in "Space Battleship Yamato" (Star Blazers), the narrator in the first "Mobile Suit Gundam" series and movies, Jigoro Inokuma in "Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl," Karin-Sama and Tsuru Sennin in "Dragon Ball," Netero in the ongoing "Hunter x Hunter" anime, Cherry in "Urusei Yatsura," Professor Amamori in "Queen Millennia," Dr Reichwein in "Monster," and Mito in "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind." He had just played the old man at the Phantom Ramen Shop in the second episode of "Space Dandy." In live-action films, he voiced Dumbledore in the Japanese dub of the "Harry Potter" films and Yoda in the "Star Wars" films.

Source: Anime News Network

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