Tony Jay (2 February 1933 — 13 August 2006) was a British actor who played mostly villainous roles with a deep, highly distinctive voice. His natural speaking voice just oozed magnificence. He died at 73 in August 2006 from complications from endoscopic surgery.
Some of his major roles are:
- Time Bandits - (Voice of the Supreme Being)
- The Jungle Book 2 - (Shere Khan)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame - (Frollo)
- Reboot - (Megabyte)
- Super Secret Secret Squirrel (1993-1995): The Chief (a Cape buffalo).
- Beauty and the Beast - (Monsieur D'Arque)
- Legacy of Kain - (Elder God, Mortainus)
- Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance - (Xantam)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) - (Dregg)
- Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series - (Wraith)
- Spider-Man: The Animated Series - (Baron Mordo)
- TaleSpin - (Shere Khan again, only as a Corrupt Corporate Executive this time).
- Teen Titans - (narrator; some episodes, most notably "Transformation". It was also his last role before he died.)
- Animaniacs (narrator; some episodes, most notably "Gunga Dot")
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - (narrator)
- Mighty Max - (Virgil, the mentor and a rare sympathetic role)
- Lois & Clark - (Lex Luthor's assistant Nigel, a rare live role)
- Many voices in the CD version of King's Quest VI, including Captain Saladin.
- Gargoyles - (Anubis)
- The Bard's Tale - (the 2004 version, as The Narrator)
- Tom and Jerry: The Movie - (Mr. Lickboot. "
We've got to have...MONEEEYY....") - The Tick - (Chairface)
- An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island - (Toplofty)
- Fallout - (Lieutenant)
- Planescape: Torment - (appears around the midpoint and near the end as The Transcendent One)
- Armed and Dangerous - (King Forge)
- Sacrifice - (Mithras)
- Skeleton Warriors - Golden Skull (the narrator of the opening and closing scenes for each episode)
- X-Men Legends - (Magneto, but only for the first game as he fell ill before the second one began development)
- Fantastic Four - (Galactus and Terrax, but after season 1 he only played the former)
- Treasure Planet - Narrator
- Rugrats - Dr. Lipschitz, additional voices
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein - OSA Director
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Minister Campio in "Cost of Living".
- Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends - The voice of Spiderus, who at first seemed to be a villain, but was later revealed simply to be a grump at times and later became a father. He got to sing in this one.
- Xyber 9: New Dawn - Machestro
- Invasion America - The Dragit.
- Twin Peaks - Douglas Milford.
May be the only actor to appear in both The '80s TV series Beauty and the Beast and the 1991 Disney Animated Canon feature film Beauty and the Beast.
Tropes
- Badass Baritone: His deep, powerful voice is what led him to be type-cast as bad guys.
- The Big Guy: He was 6'4".
- Irony as She Is Cast: Jewish actor Tony Jay voiced the evangelical Catholic, Judge Claude Frollo.
- Large Ham: Occasionally. Especially as Frollo and Lord Dregg.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Whenever he did an American accent, he sometimes did so well you could barely recognize his voice, but usually, his standard RP accent slipped in and out.
- Typecasting: He was mainly cast in villainous roles, especially the Evil Brit type. This has mostly to do with his voice having a truly chilling, menacing tone while still being very clear and suitable for a more cultured Big Bad.
- Playing Against Type: Dr. Lipschitz (the baby psychologist on Rugrats), the OSA Director on Return to Castle Wolfenstein, The Smart Guy Virgil in Mighty Max, and two lines as a friendly farmyard bull in Thumbelina (1994). To a lesser extent, the scientist who Philium Benedict has "detained" as punishment for the shorting out of the weather laser in Recess: School's Out. And in Twin Peaks, where he plays the Dirty Old Man Douglas Milford who is most villainous trait is his Sibling Rivalry with his brother Dawyne. Also, Spiderus in Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, who was more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, or at worst a Cranky Neighbor.
- This was used to set up a Subverted Trope in Gargoyles, where he portrayed Anubis. Everybody Hates Hades, but in this case, Anubis was not a bad guy, just an honest god doing a job.
- Apparently his Typecasting was so well known, that it was even emulated by certain voice actors (eg, Richard Waugh's performance as Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series was cited to have been based on that of Tony Jay's performance as Shere Khan). His voice also served as an inspiration for Helmut Bakaitis' performance as The Architect from The Matrix Reloaded.
