The prolific animation and video game actor, known for Yoda in both animated ‘Clone Wars’ series, Woodhouse in ‘Archer,’ and Professor Utonium in ‘The Powerpuff Girls,’ passed away from complications of a stroke.
Tom Kane, the prolific voice actor whose credits on hundreds of shows included Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Professor Utonium in The Powerpuff Girls, died Monday at age 64.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kane died from complications of a stroke at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. His talent agency, Galactic Productions, announced his death, saying, “Today we say goodbye to Tom Kane — a legendary voice actor whose work shaped the childhoods and imaginations of millions around the world.”
Kane suffered a stroke in 2020 that left him unable to speak or write, and he retired from voice acting in 2021. He made his first public appearance in years in March at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention in Kentucky, where he reunited with members of The Powerpuff Girls cast.
Across a wide-ranging animation and games career, Kane voiced Yoda in Star Wars: Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and multiple Star Wars projects. He also voiced Admiral Yularen and delivered the wartime-style narration that opened each episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
His animation credits also included Woodhouse on Archer, replacing George Coe in the role beginning in Season 5, Mr. Herriman on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Lord Monkey Fist on Kim Possible, Darwin on The Wild Thornberrys, and Marvel characters including Magneto and Ultron in a number of video games. Kane also voiced the Walt Disney World Monorail System and served as an announcer for several Academy Awards broadcasts.
Born Thomas Kane Roberts on April 15, 1962, in Overland Park, Kansas, Kane began voice work as a teenager while attending Shawnee Mission South High School. In a 2010 Star Wars Interviews conversation, Kane said he started calling local advertisers at 15 to offer voiceover services before an ad agency session led to paid commercial work and union membership.
He went on to say that his Lucasfilm work began with small parts for video games, including The Dig, before he was hired to perform Yoda and C-3PO voices for a TIE Fighter game. Discussing Yoda, he said he did not formally study the role because the voice was already “very much in my head” from repeated viewings of the films, adding that a recording of him reading Yoda lines was played for George Lucas.
Kane is survived by his wife, Cindy, whom he married in 1982, and their nine children, six of whom joined the family through adoption and fostering.
Photo by Super Festivals, Licensed under CC By 2.0.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
