Nobuo Kawai (川合伸旺, Kawai Nobuo, 18 April 1932) was a Japanese actor. He is most famous for playing villains and appeared in many jidaigeki and detective television dramas as a guest. He was a member of Yukio Mishima's Roman Gekijo Theatre Company. In 2003, he developed a cerebral infarction during surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm and was suspended from performing arts activities to recuperate, but died at 74 june 2006 at 7:56 p.m. at a hospital in Chuo-ku, Tokyo due to a cerebral infarction.