Emmy-nominated voice actor Tony Jay dies

Posted:
Aug 17, 2006

Deep-voiced actor Tony Jay, whose many roles included villainous Judge Frollo in Disney's 1996 animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, died Sunday following microsurgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his lungs.

Although the age of the former Royal Shakespeare Company actor is unknown, it is believed that he was born in the mid-1930s, cartoon historian Mark Evanier wrote in his "News From Me" Web site. The British-born Jay, who provided voices in many video games, was admitted to Cedar Sinai Hospital in April and had begun to recover both his breathing and mobility.

His role as Judge Frollo has been critically acclaimed as "probably the best Disney villain to date." In the movie, he sang "The Bells of Notre Dame," "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" and "Out There." Also in Disney feature films, he was Monsieur D'Arque in Beauty and the Beast (1991), the narrator of 2002's Treasure Planet, and Shere Khan in the 2003 movie sequel The Jungle Book 2.

Jay's work as the voice of Spiderus in Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends earned him a Daytime Emmy Award nomination this year for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program. This year, he was also nominated for an Annie for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for his role as Spiderus in the episode "A Froggy Day in Sunny Patch."

Other voice roles in Disney productions included Paracelcus in several episodes of the TV series Beauty and the Beast. He had voiced Shere Khan in three episodes of Disney's TaleSpin.

Jay voiced Ostrich in the 1999 series Mickey Mouse Works and Magic Mirror, Shere Khan and Ostrich in House of Mouse (2001). He was Wraith in the 1996 Disney animated series Mighty Ducks and the 1997 video Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off.

Jay was the voice of the Magic Mirror in the Fantasmic attraction at Disneyland and Disney World. He was the host on the bonus disc on the recently issued DVD of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

He also narrated the English-language 2004 dub of Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 anime classic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds.

He was the voice of Lickboot in Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992) and had an uncredited role as the Cow in 1994's Thumbelina. Jay was in the voice cast of All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996). He supplied the voice of Dr. Lipschitz in The Rugrats Movie (1998) and Rugrats Go Wild! (2003), and was Dr. Rosenthal in Recess: School's Out (2001).

Animated TV series in which he had continuing roles were Peter Pan and the Pirates (as Alf Mason), Mighty Max (Virgil), 2 Stupid Dogs (Chief), The Tick (Chairface Chippendale), Skeleton Warriors (The Narrator of Golden Skull), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Dregg, 1995-96), The Savage Dragon (Overlord), Bruno the Kid (Jarlesburg), Invasion America (The Dragit), Xyber 9: New Dawn (Machestro) and Detroit Docona (Dr. Reginald Styx). He guested on many others.

He was in the voice cast of the 1994 TV special Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights, and portrayed Sul-Van in 1996's Superman: The Last Son of Krypton.

On video, he was heard in The Easter Story (1989), Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible (1996) and An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (as Toplofty, 1998)

A naturalized American citizen, Jay appeared on TV and film alongside such Hollywood luminaries as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Woody Allen, Karl Malden, Kim Basinger, and Dan Ackroyd. His TV series included Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Hunter, Bob Newhart, Night Court, Star Trek, Lois and Clark, Sisters and Burning Zone.

On the big screen, he had live-action roles in Twins, My Stepmother is an Alien, Absolute Strangers, Rainbow Drive and Love and Death. In video games, Jay portrayed the Elder God from Legacy of Kain. He was also a voice in World of Warcraft, Fallout and The Bard's Tale.

Jay had a major role in Nicholas Nickleby, which was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company in England and the United States, and which was nominated for New York's Drama Desk Award. In London, he had major stage roles in Great Expectations at the Old Vic, The Deep Blue Sea (opposite Dorothy Tutin), A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller (opposite Topol), Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (as Shylock) and The Unknown Soldier & His Wife by Peter Ustinov (opposite Ustinov). In addition, he had cameo roles in Chekhov's Three Sisters, directed by Jonathan Miller, and Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, London, opposite Nigel Hawthorne.

He produced a number of CDs featuring his own performances and arrangements of nostalgic standards from the concert orchestra to the big band. Recently, he released the self-produced CD Poets on Broadway, in which he played his own arrangements to accompany his singing of the lyrics of some of the greatest Broadway songs.

Tony Jay is survived by his wife Marta and his son Adam, who is also an actor.

Funeral services will be held Saturday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood.