Genzō Wakayama was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and radio personality born on September 27, 1932, in Ōdomari, Karafuto Prefecture, Japan. He passed away on May 18, 2021, due to heart failure at the age of 88. He moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido during his youth and was a graduate of Sapporo South High School. Wakayama was renowned for his distinctive low bass voice, which made him a frequent choice for villainous or calm characters.

His career spanned a wide range of roles in television and theatrical animation. He voiced the character Kaijin Nijū-Mensō in the series Wanpaku Tanteidan. In the 1965 anime special New Treasure Island, produced by Mushi Production, he took on the role of Captain Alexander Smollett. He also played Mister Tousenbou in the 1967 anime series Don Quijote and voiced the enigmatic character Mr. X in the anime Pro Golfer Saru. Wakayama also worked under director Hayao Miyazaki, providing the voice for Scoppero in the Ghibli Museum short film The Day I Bought a Star. Other notable animation roles include Long John Silver in the 1978 Treasure Island television series, DiZ (Ansem the Wise) in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise, and Zeus in the Japanese dub of Disney's Hercules.

Beyond anime, Wakayama had a monumental career as a dub-over artist for Western films and television series. He was the official Japanese voice for actors Sean Connery, Gene Barry, Raymond Burr, Hugh O'Brian, and John Bromfield. His dubbing of Sean Connery, in particular, became iconic, effectively making him the voice of James Bond and other Connery characters for generations of Japanese audiences. This long-standing collaboration included nearly all of Connery's major films, from Dr. No to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

In addition to his voice work, Wakayama was a highly respected radio personality. He hosted a weekday afternoon news and talk show on TBS Radio for 22 years, from 1973 to 1995, a program that ran for an impressive 5,700 installments. He also left his mark on long-running television dramas, serving as the narrator for over 800 episodes of the popular jidaigeki The Unfettered Shogun (Abarenbo Shogun) from 1978 to 2003.