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Tony Jay (2 February 1933 – 13 August 2006) was a British actor. A former member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
, he was known for his voice work in radio, animation, film, and video games. Jay was particularly noted for his distinctive
baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...
voice, which often led to him being cast in villainous roles. He was best known as the voice of
Judge Claude Frollo Judge Claude Frollo is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Disney's 1996 animated film version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''. He was based on Archdeacon Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. Frollo is ranked one of the g ...
in
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996),
Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
in '' ReBoot'' (1994–2001),
Shere Khan Shere Khan (Hindi- शेर खान/ English pronunciation) is a fictional Bengal tiger and the main antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's '' Jungle Book'' and its adaptations. According to The Kipling Society, the word ''shere'' (or ''shir'') t ...
in '' The Jungle Book 2'' and the TV series '' TaleSpin'' (replacing George Sanders who played the character in original film), and the Elder God (plus various other roles) in the '' Legacy of Kain'' series of
video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...
. Jay also made many distinguished on-screen appearances, including the role of Nigel St John on '' Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–1995). He further made guest appearances on programs including '' The Golden Girls'' in 1987, ''
Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 ...
'' in 1990–91, and '' Night Court'' in 1991. His most prominent onscreen role, however, is that of Professor Werner in '' Twins'' (1988), the father figure/mentor to
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
's protagonist, Julius Benedict.


Early life

Jay was born in London. He attended Pinner County Grammar School, and completed his National Service with the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
in 1953. He later recalled, "I was always an actor at school"; but opted for the financial security of a real estate business. Jay moved to South Africa in about 1966, after hearing of the potential there for his line of work. He left South Africa to return to England in 1973, after which he moved to the United States in 1986.


Career

While establishing his real estate business in England, Jay acted occasionally in amateur productions.


South Africa

Within three months of relocating to South Africa at the age of 33, Jay found himself acting in radio dramas such as the detective series ''Sounds of Darkness'' where he played a savvy but blind FBI agent (1967–1972). The experience led him to decide to take acting up professionally. Jay acted, wrote, and directed radio plays on the South African Broadcasting Corporation's first commercial radio station,
Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1986. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financi ...
(1950–85). He was especially associated with the comic series ''Taxi!'' (1969–1972,1975–1978), in which he not only portrayed New York cabby Red Kowalski, but also co-wrote many scripts with Joe Stewardson. Other shows in which he was involved included ''Lux Radio Theatre'', ''Playhouse 90'', and ''Tuesday Theatre''. Jay adapted, cast, and directed the first 6 months of episodes for '' The Avengers''. The series, based on Seasons 4–6 of the 1960s British television series of the same name, was broadcast on Springbok from 6 December 1971 to 28 December 1973. To bridge the gap between the visual orientation of the British television series and the sound-only perspective of radio, Jay created a narrator which he embued with irony and scepticism. Jay's voice work led him to do commercials for companies such as Gunston Cigarettes,
Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...
, and Bols Brandy.


United Kingdom

After Jay's return to Britain in 1973 he worked in various television productions. For the BBC series '' Fall of Eagles'' (1974) he portrayed Tsar
Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...
, during which time he met Patrick Stewart, who played
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
. Jay appeared as the merchant in Shakespeare's '' Timon of Athens'' (1981) for BBC Shakespeare, and in single episodes of popular television programmes such as '' The Sweeney'' (1975), '' The Professionals'' (1978) and the comedy '' Whoops Apocalypse'' (1982). During this period he was cast as Vladimir Maximovitch in
Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
's '' Love and Death'' (1975), which was shot in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
and France.
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...
met with Jay about playing
Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan Kenobi () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Within the original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinness. In the later-released prequel trilogy, ...
in a planned film with the working title ''
Galactic Warfare Galactic is an American jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana. Origins and background Formed in 1994 as an octet (under the name Galactic Prophylactic) and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a ...
''. Despite Jay agreeing to the role, Lucas decided to cast
Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1 ...
, instead. On stage he had small roles in plays such as
Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
's '' The Three Sisters'' (1976) and Terence Rattigan's '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (1981). More important roles followed with an appearance as Jaggers in ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
'' (1984) at the Old Vic, and as
Shylock Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the ...
in ''
The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...
''. Jay was cast as Vincent Crummles in the Royal Shakespeare Company's -hour-long production of '' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (1986) at
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
.


United States

After a tour of Britain, ''Nicholas Nickleby'' embarked on a limited tour of the United States, starting with performances in Los Angeles in June 1986, then on to
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Washington, D.C. and New York City. "Even before I left England, I told friends I'd be staying if I got the chance," he recalled in a 1986 ''The New York Times'' interview. During its run from August to October 1986 at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway, Jay's performance was described as "brilliantly played" by the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Consequently, he was nominated for the 1987
Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...
as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. Jay's acting drew the attention of an agent who arranged for him to return from England to the United States for an audition. Jay was cast in a pilot program called ''Circus'' which was unsuccessful. On set Jay met make-up artist Kathy Rogers, who would become his second wife. He moved to the United States where he became a resident. In addition, Jay won parts in television series such as '' Night Court'' (1991), '' The Golden Girls'' (1987), '' Twins'' (1988), and ''
Eerie, Indiana ''Eerie, Indiana'' is an American horror science fiction television series that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1991, to December 09, 1993. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creati ...
'' (1991). Bigger roles included Paracelsus on the 1987 CBS TV series adaptation of '' Beauty and the Beast''; Minister Campio on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1992); and Lex Luthor's villainous aide-de-camp Nigel St. John in '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' (1993–95). Jay's voice-over work included Monsieur D'Arque, the amoral asylum superintendent, in Disney's 1991 hit animated film version of '' Beauty and the Beast''. From 1994 to 2001 he supplied the voice for the virus
Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
in the
computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...
television show '' ReBoot''. According to one source, Jay was preferred to Patrick Stewart,
Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as '' Hamlet'', '' Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', '' Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ' ...
and Ian McKellen for the voice of the main antagonist
Judge Claude Frollo Judge Claude Frollo is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Disney's 1996 animated film version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''. He was based on Archdeacon Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's 1831 novel. Frollo is ranked one of the g ...
in
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's 1996 animated film adaptation of '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who had also steered his performance in the film version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. Jay reprised Frollo's voice for
Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...
's nighttime light and fireworks show ''
Fantasmic! ''Fantasmic!'' is a nighttime show at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The show formerly operated at Tokyo DisneySea. It features fireworks, characters, live actors, water effects, pyrotechnics, lasers, music, audio-animatronics, searc ...
'' From 1995 to 1996 Jay was the voice of the alien warlord Lord Dregg, the villain during the last two seasons of the original 1987 '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''
animated TV series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
. He is also well known among fans of the 1996–2003 video game series '' Legacy of Kain'' for his voicing of the original Mortanius and of the Elder God, alongside several other minor characters. In various animated projects Jay took over the voice of
Shere Khan Shere Khan (Hindi- शेर खान/ English pronunciation) is a fictional Bengal tiger and the main antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's '' Jungle Book'' and its adaptations. According to The Kipling Society, the word ''shere'' (or ''shir'') t ...
, which actor George Sanders had originated for the 1967 Disney animated film ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
''. In 11 episodes spanning 1990–91, Jay voiced Shere Khan for Disney's animated TV series '' TaleSpin'', '' The Jungle Book: Rhythm and Groove'' videogame (2000), and the '' House of Mouse'' (2001–02). His final appearance as Khan came in the 2003 film '' The Jungle Book 2''. His final role was voicing Spiderus in the ''Miss Spider'' series. Jay was a devotee of classic Broadway and made several recordings and performances of old-time Broadway lyrics, in spoken-word form. A CD of these readings, ''Speaking of Broadway'', was released in 2005; a version recorded in 1996 was entitled ''Poets on Broadway'', as was his website. On it Jay recites lyrics written by the likes of Noël Coward,
Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...
, and Oscar Hammerstein, accompanied by synthesized music which he composed.


Personal life

Jay began a relationship with Marta MacGeraghty in 1974. They had a son, born in 1989. They did not marry until 2004, and remained together until Jay's death in 2006.


Illness and death

In April 2006, Jay underwent surgery at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over ...
in Los Angeles to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his lungs. Afterwards he became critically ill and was readmitted to Cedar Sinai, where he died on 13 August 2006, aged 73. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.


Filmography


Film


Television


Video games


Audiobooks and audio plays

Audiobooks: *2005: ''Time's Fool: A Mystery of Shakespeare'' by Leonard Tourney. Reader. Blackstone Audio. *2006: '' The Castle of Otranto'' by Horace Walpole. Reader. Blackstone Audio. Audio plays: *1998: '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'', winner of the Independent Publishers Award. Blackstone Audio. Cast member. Radio serials: *1967–1976: ''The Sound of Darkness''. Writer, Actor (voice). *1968–1972: ''Squad Cars''. Actor, Announcer (voice). *1969–1972: ''Taxi!'' Writer. Red Kowalski (voice). *1971–1972: '' The Avengers''. Announcer (voice), writer, Director.


Commercials

Media * '' Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero''. * '' The Dark Crystal''. *
London Broadcasting Company LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...
– voice-overs for the station's main jingle packages between 1974 and 1980. Food * Golden Grahams Treats (
General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company or ...
snack bar). Toys * '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (
Kenner Products Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ...
toys). * '' Disney's Hercules''. * '' ReBoot'' ( Irwin Toy). * '' Return of the Jedi'' (
Kenner Products Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ...
toys). Video Games * ''
Dr. Mario ''Dr. Mario'' is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, and Game Boy. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by Hirokaz ...
''. * ''
Kirby's Dream Land 2 ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'' is a side-scrolling platforming video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy handheld video game console. It was released in Japan on March 21, 1995, in North America on May 1, 1995, ...
''. * ''
Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eu ...
''. * '' X-Men 2: Clone Wars''.


Accolades


References


External links

* *
Tony Jay
at Hollywood.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Tony 1933 births 2006 deaths Audiobook narrators British expatriate male actors in the United States Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) English baritones English expatriates in the United States English male film actors English male television actors English male video game actors English male voice actors Deaths from lung cancer in California Disney people Hanna-Barbera people Male actors from London Royal Shakespeare Company members 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors 20th-century English singers 21st-century English singers 20th-century British male singers 21st-century British male singers