Rokurō Naya (納谷六朗, October 20th, 1932 - November 17th, 2014) was a Japanese voice actor who provided voices for the Japanese version of Thomas & Friends.
Some of his roles included Mermaid Man and Squidward Tentacles from "Spongebob Squarepants", Professor Xavier from "X-Men: The Animated Series", and Chucky in the "Child's Play" Series. He is also the younger brother of the late Japanese voice artist, Gorō Naya.
He died on November 17th, 2014 due to complications from pneumonia.
Voices
- Sir Topham Hatt (Calling All Engines! - Samson at Your Service, excluding Tale of the Brave)
- Sir Lowham Hatt (thirteenth season only)
Trivia
- Naya was one of the few Japanese voice actors to appear both in Thomas and its sister show TUGS, in which he voices Captain Star, Bluenose, Izzy Gomez, and Billy Shoepack.
- He was the longest Japanese voice actor to play Sir Topham Hatt to date.
- The Old Man in the anime series "Knights of Sidonia" was his final role before his death.
- Both he and Zbigniew Konopka voiced Century from "Iron Man: The Animated Series" in their respective languages.
- He and former narrator George Carlin both played Zugor in "Tarzan 2" for their respective languages.
- Zbigniew Konopka and Jukka Voutilainen also worked on "Tarzan 2". There have also been several other people that have worked on other Tarzan related TV shows and films:
- Dário de Castro ("Tarzan")
- Alan Kennedy, Marianne Culbert, Travis Gagne, Kallan Kagan, Jason Reeves, Rob Pringle, Jazmin Playtis, Adam Black, Tigh Walker, Anna Wagner-Lopez, Ryan Quaglia, John Hickson and Jesse Lickman ("Tarzan and Jane")
- Robin Smith ("Tarzan and the Lost Apes")
- John Hurt ("The Legend of Tarzan"; cut)
- Zbigniew Konopka and Jukka Voutilainen also worked on "Tarzan 2". There have also been several other people that have worked on other Tarzan related TV shows and films:
- He and Kenji Utsumi played Captain Gaspard from "Mysterious Cities of Gold".
- Both he and Salty's Lighthouse voice actor French Tickner voiced Honinbo Kuwabara from "Hikaru no Go" in their respective languages.
- Both he and Waldemar Barwiński voiced Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow from "Batman: The Animated Series" in their respective languages.
- Both he and Janusz Wituch voiced Spoons from "Rango" in their respective languages.
- Both he and Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. voiced Dr. Riddles from "Zatch Bell" in their respective languages. José Arenas, Kenta Miyake, Sergio Morel, Mayra Arellano and Houko Kuwashima also worked on it.
- Both he and César Árias voiced Professor Charles Xavier from "X-Men: The Animated Series" in their respective languages.
- He worked alongside Hirohiko Kakegawa, Hideyuki Umezu, and Tesshō Genda on "The Swan Princess II: Escape from Castle Mountain".
- He, along with Masashi Ebara and Shinobu Adachi voiced together in "X-Men: The Animated Series".
Major awards and nominations
- Won - Achievement Award at the 8th annual Seiyuu Awards, 2014