Legendary voice actress Nobuyo Oyama, widely renowned for bringing Doraemon to life with her legendary voice, has passed away at the age of 90 back on September 29th reportedly due to natural causes.
Her agency Actors Seven made the announcement adding that a private family-only funeral had already taken place to honor Oyama.
Oyama (real name: Nobuyo Yamashita) was born on October 16th 1933 and would first step into the world of television in 1956, thanks to her iconic and distinctive voice, where she would embark on decades of success starting with a role in the 1957 Japanese version of ‘Lassie’.
Oyama’s portrayal of the beloved robotic cat Doraemon, which she started in 1979, is what truly defined her career. She would continue voicing the character for an impressive 26 years and became a household name throughout Japan.
Oyama would continue voicing Doraemon until 2005 when health issues forced her to step away from the gig.
Oyama also had other roles such as voicing Katsuo Isono in Sazae-san.
Oyama married the late television personality Keisuke Sagawa in 1964 after meeting on a television show. Oyama was also an accomplished writer and culinary expert, co-authoring a cookbook called Keisuke-Nobuyo no Omoshiro Sōzai 170 which would go on to be a best seller and led to her having her own show Nobuyo Oyama’s Morning Cooking First Thing.
