Tony Jay (2 February 1933 His voice acting roles included Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Jay also portrayed Professor Werner in Twins (1988), the father figure/mentor to Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, Julius Benedict. and completed his National Service with the Royal Air Force in 1953. He later recalled, "I was always an actor at school"; but opted for the financial security of a real estate business. Jay moved to South Africa in about 1966, He left South Africa to return to England in 1973, after which he moved to the United States in 1986. Jay found himself acting in radio dramas such as the detective series Sounds of Darkness where he played a savvy but blind FBI agent (1967–1972). The experience led him to decide to take acting up professionally. Jay adapted, cast, and directed the first 6 months of episodes for The Avengers. The series, based on Seasons 4–6 of the 1960s British television series of the same name, To bridge the gap between the visual orientation of the British television series and the sound-only perspective of radio, Jay created a narrator which he embued with irony and scepticism.

Jay's voice work led him to do commercials for companies such as Gunston Cigarettes, Barclays Bank, and Bols Brandy. For the BBC series Fall of Eagles (1974) he portrayed Tsar Alexander III of Russia, during which time he met Patrick Stewart, who played Vladimir Lenin. The Deep Blue Sea (1981). More important roles followed with an appearance as Jaggers in Great Expectations (1984) at the Old Vic, and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

United States

After a tour of Britain, Nicholas Nickleby embarked on a limited tour of the United States, starting with performances in Los Angeles in June 1986, then on to Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York City. "Even before I left England, I told friends I'd be staying if I got the chance," he recalled in a 1986 The New York Times interview.

During its run from August to October 1986 at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway, Jay's performance was described as "brilliantly played" by the New York Times. Consequently, he was nominated for the 1987 Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

Jay's acting drew the attention of an agent who arranged for him to return from England to the United States for an audition. Jay was cast in a pilot program called Circus which was unsuccessful. On set Jay met make-up artist Kathy Rogers, who would become his second wife. He moved to the United States where he became a resident.

In addition, Jay won parts in television series such as Night Court (1984), The Golden Girls (1987), Twins (1988), and Eerie, Indiana (1991). Bigger roles included Paracelsus on the 1987 CBS TV series adaptation of Beauty and the Beast; Minister Campio on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992); and Lex Luthor's villainous aide-de-camp Nigel St. John in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993–95). Jay was preferred to Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen for the voice of the main antagonist Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's 1996 animated film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who had also steered his performance in the film version of Beauty and the Beast. Jay reprised Frollo's voice for Walt Disney World's nighttime light and fireworks show Fantasmic! From 1995 to 1996 Jay was the voice of the alien warlord Lord Dregg, the villain during the last two seasons of the original 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated TV series.

He is also well known among fans of the 1996–2003 video game series Legacy of Kain for his voicing of the original Mortanius and of the Elder God, alongside several other minor characters.

Personal life

Jay began a relationship with Marta MacGeraghty in 1974. They had a son, born in 1989. They did not marry until 2004,<!--According to the LA Times obituary referenced here, he did not marry Marta until 2004.--> and remained together until Jay's death in 2006.

Illness and death

In April 2006, Jay underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to remove a non-cancerous tumour from his lungs. Afterwards, he became critically ill and was readmitted to Cedars Sinai, where he was pronounced dead on 13 August 2006, aged 73.

Filmography

Film

Live Action Roles

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="white-space:nowrap"

|-

!Year!!Title!!Role!!Notes

|-

|1968||Majuba: Heuwel van Duiwe||||Uncredited

|-

|1969||Petticoat Safari||||Co-writer

|-

| rowspan="4" |1970||Lied in My hart||Rudi||

|-

|Scotty & Co.||Ginger Sid||

|-

|Sien Jou Môre||Prof. Ivan Ullman||(voiced by Danie Smuts)

|-

|Taxi!|| Red Kowalski||

|-

| rowspan="2" |1972||My Way||Natie Kaplan||

|-

|Leatherlip||||Uncredited

|-

|1975||Love and Death||Vladimir Maximovich||

|-

|1977||My Way II|| Natie Kaplan||

|-

|1978||The Greek Tycoon||Doctor||

|-

|1987||Little Dorrit||Doctor||

|-

|1987–1990

|Beauty and the Beast

|Paracelsus

|

|-

|rowspan=2|1988||Twins||Professor Werner & The Narrator||

|-

|My Stepmother Is an Alien||Council Chief||

|-

|2011

|Seek

|Producer

|Posthumous release

|}

Voice Roles

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="white-space:nowrap"

|-

!Year!!Title!!Role!!Notes

|-

|1981||Time Bandits||The Supreme Being||

|-

|1989||Asterix and the Big Fight|| Narrator||English version

|-

|rowspan=2|1991||Beauty and the Beast||Monsieur D'Arque||||Doomsday: What Can We Do?|| rowspan="3" | Narrator || rowspan="2" | Voice, TV documentary

|-

| rowspan="4" |1997||What If?

|-

|Puss in Boots||Voice, television film

|-

| Adventures from the Book of Virtues|| King Darius || Voice, episode: "Faith "

|-

|Extreme Ghostbusters|| Maiikrob || Voice, episode: "Moby Ghost"

|-

| rowspan="3" |1998||Hollywood & Vinyl||Himself||1 episode

|-

|Recess||King Arthur, Fence, St. Peter|| Voice, episode: "The Lost Ball"

|-

|Invasion America||The Dragit||Voice, 13 episodes

|-

| rowspan="4" |1999||Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles||Narrator|| Voice, TV documentary, 2 episodes

|-

|To Serve and Protect||Police Pathologist||

|-

|Mickey Mouse Works||Ostrich||Voice, Episode #1.6

|-

|Xyber 9: New Dawn||Machestro||Voice, 7 episodes

|-

|1999–2000||Johnny Bravo||King Brad, Announcer||Voice, 2 episodes<!-- url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFWAUrJGTCA -->

|}

Theme parks

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

|-

| 1992, 1998

| Fantasmic!

| Magical Mirror, Judge Claude Frollo

| Voice

|}

Audiobooks and audio plays

Audiobooks:

  • 2005: Time's Fool: A Mystery of Shakespeare by Leonard Tourney. Reader. Blackstone Audio.
  • 2006: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. Reader. Blackstone Audio.

Audio plays:

  • 1998: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, winner of the Independent Publishers Award. Blackstone Audio. Cast member.

Radio serials:

  • 1967–1976: The Sound of Darkness. Writer, Actor (voice).
  • 1968–1972: Squad Cars. Actor, Announcer (voice).
  • 1969–1972: Taxi! Writer. Red Kowalski (voice).
  • 1971–1972: The Avengers. Announcer (voice), writer, Director.

Commercials

Media

  • Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero.
  • The Dark Crystal.
  • London Broadcasting Company – voice-overs for the station's main jingle packages between 1974 and 1980.

Food

  • Golden Grahams Treats (General Mills snack bar).

Toys

  • The Empire Strikes Back (Kenner Products toys).
  • Disney's Hercules.
  • ReBoot (Irwin Toy).
  • Return of the Jedi (Kenner Products toys).

Video games

  • Dr. Mario.
  • Kirby's Dream Land 2.
  • Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
  • X-Men 2: Clone Wars.

Accolades

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Award

!Year

! Category

! Film

! Result

|-

|rowspan=2|Annie Awards

|-

|rowspan=2|2006

|Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

|rowspan=2|Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends

|

|-

|Daytime Emmy Award

|Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program

|

|}

References

  • Tony Jay at Hollywood.com
  • Special Springbok Radio Audio Tribute
  • Tony Jay's Website