'Star Wars' Voice Actor Tom Kane Is Mostly Unable To Speak Following A Stroke

Tom Kane, known for voicing such Star Wars characters as Jedi Master Yoda and Wulf Yularen in the animated side of the franchise, suffered a stroke a couple of months ago. As a result of this stroke, he is mostly unable to speak. This change was unknown to most fans of his work until his daughter Sam posted an update on his Facebook page. In that post, dated December 30, she had the following to say, giving fans and people who know him in general an update on what has been going on:

"About two months ago he had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech center of his brain. This means right now he cannot efficiently communicate verbally, nor read or spell. He is still competent and very much himself, but can only get out a few words right now. As many of you might know about strokes, it is possible for him to gain these functions back and we have found him excellent care in Kansas City for speech, occupational, and physical therapy, but for now, we have been warned by his Neurologist that he may not do Voiceovers again. My dad still remains in good spirits and his extreme stubbornness has helped him already show improvements in speech. He is fully on board with me sharing this and he will see anything you guys post. Lots of love from our family to yours."

This is certainly a lot to take in. Star Wars fans who have grown up with the hit animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars are very familiar with Tom Kane opening each episode with the iconic narration that brings the viewers up to speed on what is going on in the galaxy far, far away. He also voiced Yoda in both that series and the earlier Clone Wars microseries, as well as Wulf Yularen in both The Clone Wars and Rebels. Trying to sound like the wise old Jedi Master is no easy task, but Kane was up for the opportunity and voiced the character convincingly. And for Yularen, he gave a voice for a character who was essentially just sitting in the background in the original Star Wars film from 1977. For the live-action films, Kane contributed to The Force Awakens as a Hosnian citizen and a Starkiller Base technician, and to The Last Jedi as Admiral Ackbar.

Apart from the aforementioned Star Wars projects, Tom Kane has also contributed to other animated shows such as The Powerpuff Girls and Archer, and provided voiceover work for such films as Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. He has also provided his voice for video games within the Star Wars, Marvel, and Call of Duty franchises. He has done a lot of work over the years, and this development is a huge one for his fans and his family to take in. It seems that he may not be able to do voiceover work again, but at least Kane is in good spirits, from the sounds of it. At the moment, all that we can do is hope that Tom Kane and his family handle all of this however they need to. Even a few words at a time is a victory, so hopefully things turn out fine for all of them. No matter what happens, one thing is clear: There is a lot of love for Tom Kane, as he has contributed a lot to the stories that entertain us. We are all rooting for you, Tom Kane, whatever happens next.

Source(s): Variety