British-American · b. 1933 · 1990s – 2000s
A Royal Shakespeare Company veteran and Disney's Judge Frollo, whose raspy baritone gave late-1990s PC and PlayStation games some of their most commanding villains and gods.
Tony Jay was born in London on 2 February 1933 and died in Los Angeles on 13 August 2006, aged 73. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became known for a distinctive, raspy baritone that led to a long line of villains, most famously Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Games of the late 1990s used that voice repeatedly, and almost always for something enormous. In Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (1996) he voiced Mortanius, William the Just and the Dark Entity; in Fallout (1997) he was the Lieutenant, the calm, reasoning commander of the Master's army; in Planescape: Torment (1999) he played the Transcendent One. In Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999) he became the Elder God, the ancient presence that sends Raziel back into the world, and he returned to the role in Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance. His later game work included Magneto in X-Men Legends (2004) and the narration of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. At a time when most game voice acting was functional at best, Jay's performances lent unmistakable weight to the characters players were meant to fear.