Hisashi Katsuta

was a Japanese actor and voice actor. He is best known for his voice-over portrayal of Professor Ochanomizu in three anime adaptations of the Astro Boy franchise, and also voiced Dr. Hoshi in Astroganger (1972–1973), Professor Tobishima in Groizer X (1976–1977), and Shin'ichirō Izumi in Tōshō Daimos (1978–1979). Early life Hisashi Katsuta was born on 2 April 1927 in Tokyo, and was educated at Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School and the Technical Institute for Wireless-Communications (now the University of Electro-Communications). He had been interested in film and theater since childhood, and he and his elder brother would often see films. He graduated from the Faculty of Theatre in 1949. He became a member of the Toho Drama Club in 1948, and was also a member of the , Mori no Kai, Players Center, Tēbura, Rindō Pro, Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society, and Arts Vision. Voice acting career His voice acting career started in 1948 when he appeared in NHK's 1948 radio adaptation of the Shi Nai'an novel Water Margin, and he was contracted to the broadcaster in 1949 before being released in 1954. Katsuta would later become a pioneer in voice acting in Japan. He started dubbing work with the Japanese dub of The Buccaneers, a television drama produced in the United Kingdom in 1956. He later cited Surfside 6 and The Beverly Hillbillies, both American live-action shows in the 1960s, as two of his most memorable dubbing works.