Tony Jay's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) TaleSpin Shere Khan The Fantastic Four Terrax the … Galactus The Tick (1994) Chairface C… ReBoot (CA) Megabyte Mighty Ducks Wraith The Agatha Christie Hour (UK) Count Strep… Mighty Max Virgil Bruno the Kid Jarlesburg Skeleton Warriors The Narrato… Fall of Eagles (UK) Tsar Alexan… Escape (UK) Colonel Jal… The Hanged Man (UK) Lazlo

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Tony Jay appeared on-screen in several films and on television, including Love and Death, Twins, Night Court, The Golden Girls and Eerie, Indiana. He also developed a career in the theatre, in plays such as The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, and The Merchant of Venice. Jay's other non-animation roles included Paracelsus on the 1987 CBS series Beauty and the Beast; Minister Campio on Star Trek: The Next Generation; and Lex Luthor's villainous aide-de-camp Nigel St. John in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

He was also well known for his role as the voice of the virus Megabyte in the animated series ReBoot, and for his voice-work as Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and in the Walt Disney World version of the nighttime light and fireworks show Fantasmic!. He also voiced Monsieur D'Arque, the amoral asylum superintendent, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Jay also in 1995-96 had an animation voice as he voiced a vile alien warlord named Lord Dregg, the new main villain of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series in the show's last two seasons.

He is also well-known among Legacy of Kain fans for his voicing of the original Mortanius and of the Elder God, alongside several other minor characters. He was also the successor of George Sanders in the role of Shere Khan from Disney's The Jungle Book. Jay voiced the character in TaleSpin and reprised his role of the character for fifteen years after it ended until his death. The Jungle Book 2 was his final reprisal of the role.

Jay was a devotee of classic Broadway, and made several recordings and performances of old-time Broadway lyrics, in spoken-word form. A CD of these readings, Speaking of Broadway, was released in 2005; a version recorded years earlier of the same collection was titled Poets on Broadway, as is his website. It features Jay reciting lyrics written by the likes of Noël Coward, Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein and was composed entirely by him, according to the CD liner notes.

Jay was born in London in 1933. He attended Pinner County Grammar School. He moved to South Africa in 1955 and was involved with many radio productions on the SABC Commercial Radio Service, Springbok Radio, until 1980. He later moved to the United States, and became a naturalized citizen. He was Jewish.

In April 2006, he underwent surgery in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles to remove a non-cancerous tumour from his lungs. He never fully recovered from the operation and was in a critical condition throughout the following months. Jay eventually died on August 13, 2006 at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife Marta and son Adam. He is also survived by his brother Robert and sister in law Lynda and their children Rylan and Natasha Jay who live in Canada.


TRIVIA:

• Died of complications following surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his lung.
• He was born in England and has become a naturalized citizen of the United States.
• He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.
• His trademark voice is often mistaken for that of 'Jay Robinson (I)' (qv), whose own mischievous and "evil" sounding voice sounds remarkably similar. While 'Jay Robinson (I)' (qv) is most recognized for his narration of _"Beyond Bizarre" (1997)_ (qv), Jay's voice acting talent is mostly confined to Video Games and cartoons. His most recent and notable role has been that of the "Elder God" in the Legacy of Kain game series, a part he has had since the beginning of it.
• Has a son: Adam