Kazuo Kumakura

Kazuo Kumakura (1927-2015) was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and theatre director. He was born on January 30, 1927, in the Azabu district of Minato, Tokyo. In 1956, he joined the Theatre Echo theatre group and later became the head of the Theatre Echo agency. Kumakura was known as the Japanese voice of Alfred Hitchcock in Nippon TV's TV broadcasts of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, starting in 1957. He also portrayed the voice of Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot from 1989. Kumakura passed away from rectal cancer on October 12, 2015, at the age of 88. Throughout his career, he appeared in various TV shows and movies, such as Hyokkori Hyoutanjima (1964) and Monster (2004).