Kazuko Imai was a Japanese actress and voice actor born on December 12, 1932, in Setagaya, Tokyo, though some sources list her birth year as 1930. She passed away on October 14, 2012. Her career spanned several decades, during which she was active in both live-action television and film, as well as voice acting for anime and dubbed foreign productions.

In the realm of anime, Imai is recognized for several key roles. She provided the voice for Otatsu in the anime special The Izu Dancer. She also voiced O-Ryō in the Asunaro Story segment of the Seishun Anime Zenshu television series. Her film work includes the role of Calpania in the 1970 animated feature Cleopatra, directed by Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto. Later in her career, she lent her voice to the television series Wild Arms Twilight Venom, playing the character Laila Margaret.

Beyond anime, a significant portion of Imai's voice work was in dubbing foreign films for Japanese television. She provided Japanese voices for actresses in several Hollywood films for broadcasts on networks like NHK and TV Asahi, including Bringing Up Baby, A Star Is Born, and The Pride and the Passion. This work in dubbing formed a substantial part of her career as a voice artist.

Imai's live-action career was extensive, with her most prominent role being Masako Kitamura in the long-running and highly acclaimed television series Kita no kuni kara (From the Northern Country), a part she played across multiple specials from 1981 into the 1990s. Her other notable film appearances include The Castle of Sand in 1974 and Hiroshima in 1995. Throughout her career, she frequently collaborated with a consistent group of actors and directors, appearing in numerous projects with fellow actors like Akiko Nomura and Etsuko Ichihara, and working multiple times with director Sō Kuramoto on the Kita no kuni kara series.