Kazue Takahashi was a pioneering Japanese actress and voice actor, whose career spanned five decades and left an indelible mark on the anime and dubbing industries. Born Kazue Oizumi on March 20, 1929, she adopted the stage name Kazue Takahashi and began her career in 1949 after training with the NHK Tokyo Broadcasting Theater Company.

Takahashi's extensive filmography includes a vast number of iconic roles from the 1960s through the 1990s. She is perhaps best known as the second voice of Katsuo Isono in the long-running series Sazae-san, a role she performed for 28 years from 1969 until her retirement in 1998. Another of her most celebrated roles was as the boy detective Shoutarou Kaneda, known as Jimmy Sparks in English, in the classic anime Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor).

Her work encompassed a wide variety of characters across multiple series. She voiced the titular character Josephina in Kujira no Josephina, Masao Masaki in Kyōryū Tankentai Born Free, Takeru Yamatone in Ogon Bat, and Pincho in the 1980 film Phoenix 2772 - Space Firebird. In the 1966 special Son-goku Is Coming: Chapter of Ko-fu Dai-o, she took on the role of the protagonist Son-Goku, also known as Sun Wukong. Her versatility extended to playing villainous or eccentric characters such as Obaba in Maco, the Mermaid and Gonta in Kaminari Boy Pikkaribee. Other notable credits include Chibita in Osomatsu-kun, Queen Himika in Steel Jeeg, and the Witch Zobina in Dinosaur War Izenborg.

Beyond anime, Takahashi was highly active in voicing foreign films and television series for Japanese audiences, a field known as fukikae. One of her most famous dubbing roles was providing the Japanese voice for E.T. in the original VHS release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Her dubbing work also included characters in live-action films like Suspiria and various American television comedies.

In recognition of her lifetime of contributions to the industry, Takahashi was posthumously awarded the Special Merit Award at the 4th Seiyū Awards in February 2010. Her legacy is such that an award, the Takahashi Kazue Award, was established in her name to honor female voice actors who have actively worked across various media. Kazue Takahashi passed away on March 23, 1999, at the age of 70.