Star Wars actor Tom Kane has been forced into retirement after suffering a massive stroke last year. The legendary voice actor who portrayed Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: The Last Jedi will no longer be able to continue working after losing the ability to speak.
The news comes from Kane's daughter Sam who revealed on the actor's Facebook page that her father has officially retired. Kane had suffered a massive stroke in late 2020 and its effects continue to have an effect on the Call of Duty: Zombies voice actor.
"Because of this stroke my dad has been forced into early retirement. The damage to his speech center is just too severe. He cannot read well nor get out the words he wants, which is sort of required for voice acting," Sam wrote.
Although Kane is no longer able to speak, the actor still manages to communicate with his loved ones.
"He has a handful of words he says perfectly, but just a handful. He relies on all forms of non verbal communication now. Thank god he's an actor and great at charades," Sam wrote.
Kane has a long and amazing career providing the voice for some of the iconic characters in films, TV shows, and video games. He voiced Magneto in two Marvel video games. Kane has played several characters in the Star Wars Universe including Admiral Ackbar in The Last Jedi, Yoda in The Clone Wars and Lobot in The Force Unleashed. His most recent work was as the narrator in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
It is truly unfortunate that Kane will no longer be able to continue to provide the voice of our most beloved Star Wars characters. Nevertheless, his career has proven that he will always be one of the franchise's favorite actors.
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