"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and Disney Parks Voice Actor Tom Kane Passes Away at Age of 64
Voice actor Tom Kane, who is most famous for his role as Yoda in Lucasfilm Animation's Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, sadly passed away today at the age of 64.
Tom Kane's first Hollywood voice acting credits date back to the early 1990s on various sitcoms and animated series. His first forays into the Marvel and Star Wars universes came in 1995 and 1996, respectively, with the Iron Man animated series and the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire video game. He then provided voices for LucasArts' acclaimed adventure game The Curse of Monkey Island in 1997 and both The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man animated series from 1996 to 1997. More work for LucasArts in the 90s included Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Star Wars: Rebellion, Star Wars: DroidWorks, Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, multiple Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace video game adaptations, and the beloved adventure game Grim Fandango. He continued that trend in the 2000s with the games Star Wars: Force Commander, Star Wars: Demolition, Star Wars: Starfighter, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and Escape from Monkey Island, among others.
He first voiced the character of Yoda (originated by Frank Oz in the Star Wars movies) for a kids' computer game in 1999 and continued the role in other games, which led to his being cast as Yoda in animator Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series in 2003. Then when George Lucas and Dave Filoni teamed up for the longer-running Star Wars: The Clone Wars CGI animated series in 2008, Kane was kept on as Yoda for its debut feature-length movie and over 130 episodes. For The Clone Wars, Kane also famously narrated the series and provided the voice of Admiral Yularen. In more recent years, he has voiced Yoda in several LEGO Star Wars video games and the Star Wars: Forces of Destiny webseries, and even voiced Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. He has played Magneto in Marvel video games and he reprised his role as the narrator for the premiere episde of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
For Disney, he contributed voices to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Disney Sing-Along Songs: Brother Bear - On My Way, and Kim Possible. In 2012 he took over as the voice of the Walt Disney World Monorail System and Disney Bus Transportation system. At Disneyland he voiced Odin in the Thor: Treasures of Asgard meet-and-greet experience, and during the COVID-19 pandemic he provided safety spiels for Walt Disney World. Unfortunately in the fall of 2020 he suffered a stroke, which left him unable to continue his voice acting career. He passed away from complications of the stroke today, and is survived by his wife Cindy and their nine children. He will be missed by everyone who loved Star Wars, Disney Parks, any of the many other projects he contributed to, and the art of voice acting in general.
