Lam Pou-chuen (; 10 October 1951 – 2 January 2015) was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

who was best known for voicing the character

Doraemon ''Doraemon'' ( ja, ドラえもん ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. The manga was first serialized in December 1969, with List of Doraemon chapters, its 1,345 individual chapters compiled into 45 ' ...

for the Hong Kong version of the

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

for over thirty years in addition to being the Cantonese voice of

Sammo Hung Sammo Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a fight choreog ...

in many of his dubbed blockbusters.

Life

Lam was born in

Portuguese Macau Portuguese Macau (officially the Province of Macau until 1976, and then the Autonomous Region of Macau from 1976 to 1999) was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colony that existed from the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 to the ...

but moved to Hong Kong as a teenager. He first worked as an office boy for a bank, but after being impressed by the voice acting of

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

he applied to be a voice actor at Hong Kong's TVB in 1971. Lam voiced the title character for ''Doraemon'' since the very first episode was broadcast by TVB in 1981. He continued to be the voice of Doraemon throughout the decades, only being briefly replaced in 1992 when he went over to the rival station Asia Television for a short period. Lam's continuous involvement sets Hong Kong's ''Doraemon'' apart from the original Japanese production which went through a re-launch in 2005, resulting in a complete change of voice cast. Lam and other cast members at the time reprised their roles when TVB started to broadcast the new 2005 series. Like his Japanese counterpart, the actor's Doraemon voice is instantly recognisable in Hong Kong and from time to time appears on variety shows and TV commercials. Other prominent roles in animation that Lam had voiced include Garfield,

Amuro Ray is a fictional character introduced in Sunrise's 1979 anime series ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. Amuro is a mechanic who becomes the pilot of the mecha known as RX-78-2 Gundam to protect himself from the Zeon forces invading his space colony during the ...

in ''

Mobile Suit Gundam , also known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is an anime television series, produced and animated by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting ...

'', Genzo Wakabayashi in ''

Captain Tsubasa is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yōichi Takahashi. The series mainly revolves around the sport of association football focusing on Tsubasa Oozora and his relationship with his friends, rivalries with h ...

'', Hiei in '' Yu Yu Hakusho'' and

Squirtle Squirtle (), known as in Japan, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's '' Pokémon'' franchise. It was designed by Atsuko Nishida. Its name was changed from Zenigame to Squirtle during the English localization of the series in or ...

in ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

''. Outside animation, he was also the voice of the corrupt

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

official

Heshen Heshen (; ; 1 July 1750 – 22 February 1799) of the Manchu Niohuru clan, was an official of the Qing dynasty favored by the Qianlong Emperor and called the most corrupt official in Chinese history. After the death of Qianlong, the Jiaqing Empe ...

in the 2001 Chinese television series ''

The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan ''The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan'' () is a Chinese television series about the life of Ji Xiaolan. The series was directed by Zhang Guoli and consists of a total of 173 episodes shot in high definition, each 45 minutes long and containing 10 minutes of 3- ...

'', which remained his favourite role. He was also the usual voice for

and

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...

in Cantonese dubs of their films. Lam died at the age of 63 on 2 January 2015 in Hong Kong. He was reported to have been found unconscious at home and later confirmed dead at

Nethersole Hospital Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH) is an acute district general hospital managed under the New Territories East Cluster of the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong. Established by the former London Missionary Society in 1887, it was the fir ...

. He was known to be suffering from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. His last work was the 3D feature film '' Stand by Me Doraemon'', which had yet to be released in Hong Kong at the time of his death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lam, Pou-chuen 1951 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Hong Kong male actors 20th-century Macau people 21st-century Hong Kong male actors 21st-century Macau people Deaths from diabetes Doraemon Hong Kong male voice actors Macau emigrants to Hong Kong