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In Remembrance: Tony Jay
Born on February 2, 1933 in London, England, Jay began his career on the stage in at the age of 30, performing in various productions in South Africa. It was here that he also made his film debut, taking the lead in the 1970 musical Lied In My Heart. He would appear in one other South African film, the drama The Winners (1973).
Returning to London, he played Shylock in a production of Merchant Of Venice and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also found time to appear in small roles in Wood Allen’s comedy Love And Death (1975), the drama The Greek Tycoon (1978) and Terry Gilliam’s fantasy Time Bandits (1981).
Following the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Nicholas Nickleby successful performances in New York and Los Angeles in 1986, Jay decided to move to California, setline in the Hollywood Hills area. Although he received a few supporting roles such films as Twins and My Step-Mother Is An Alien (both 1988), Jay’s career was made primarily in television where he made appearances on such series as Beauty And The Beast, Newhart, Twin Peaks, Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, Murphy Brown and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also began contributing voice work to such cartoon series as Darkwing Duck, Rugrats, The Tick, Hey Arnold! and Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends. Jay also did voice work for several video games including the Legacy Of Kain series.
Jay’s final film appearances were in such animated fare as The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996), Treasure Planet (2002), The Jungle Book 2 and Rugrats Go Wild (both 2003). His final work was as the narrator for the docudrama Albert Fish which is due for release later this year. |
Tony Jay, the veteran character actor who also lent his recognizable
baritone voice to several animated projects and video games, has
passed away on August 13, 2006 in Los Angeles, CA. He was 73.