Fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels may not necessarily recognize his face, but they’ll certainly know his voice. Tom Kane is the voice actor behind Yoda, Admiral Ackbar and others, bringing the fan-favorite Star Wars characters to animated life. We’ve just learned (thanks to our friends at GeekNewsNow) that, sadly, Kane has suffered a debilitating stroke.
Star Wars Voice Actor Tom Kane suffers stroke
Here is the official statement on the condition of Star Wars voice actor Tom Kane. This comes to us from Kane’s daughter:
Hi everyone! This is Tom’s daughter, Sam. Our family wanted to share why my dad has been MIA. 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.
Tom Kane has been a mainstay in Star Wars animation since the beginning of The Clone Wars. Throughout the series he played Yoda, filling in more than admirably for Frank Oz. Kane even made his live-action voice debut as Admiral Ackbar in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
The loss of Tom’s voice talent is a blow to the Star Wars community. Notwithstanding, our thoughts first and foremost go out to Tom Kane and his family. We wish Tom all the best for a speedy recovery.
Source: Geek News Now
