Tom Kane is a prolific voice actor with credits on some beloved shows playing some beloved characters, but sadly, Kane has lost the ability to speak. Kane's daughter broke the news to fans to explain why her father hasn't been active recently, using his Facebook account to spread the news that he suffered a stroke earlier this year, as well as his current status.
Known for projects including Archer, The Powerpuff Girls, and a variety of Star Wars series playing a variety of characters, Tom Kane's stroke left him with some effects that may prevent him from returning to his voiceover work. His daughter, Sam, provided a detailed update via Facebook, saying:
Hi everyone! This is Tom’s daughter, Sam. Our family wanted to share why my dad has been MIA. About two months ago he had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech center of his brain. This means right now he cannot efficiently communicate verbally, nor read or spell. He is still competent and very much himself, but can only get out a few words right now. As many of you might know about strokes, it is possible for him to gain these functions back and we have found him excellent care in Kansas City for speech, occupational, and physical therapy, but for now, we have been warned by his Neurologist that he may not do Voiceovers again. My dad still remains in good spirits and his extreme stubbornness has helped him already show improvements in speech. He is fully on board with me sharing this and he will see anything you guys post.
Although Tom Kane has been left without the ability to "efficiently communicate verbally" and cannot read or spell, his daughter still has some reassuring words for fans concerned about the voice actor. He's still "very much himself," to the point that he approves of Sam posting the news on his Facebook page and will see the responses. It's already clear that there will be no shortage of responses for him to see. At the time of writing, the post has already accumulated more than 960 comments, with over 400 shares and more than 2,600 reactions.
Among Tom Kane's many credits over the the span of his nearly 30-year career in voice acting are roles in both the original run and revival season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (as Narrator, Yoda, Admiral Ackbar, Admiral Yularen, and more), Star Wars Forces of Destiny (as Yoda with other Clone Wars stars), Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (Admiral Ackbar, who met an untimely fate), Star Wars Rebels (Admiral Yularen), the recent Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (as Qui-Gon Jin and Yoda), multiple video games, and more.
Star Wars legend Mark Hamill (who recently reprised his role yet again) responded to the news of Tom Kane's stroke with a touching post on social media:
Even if Tom Kane never does voiceover work again, he leaves a powerful legacy in the business with a remarkably long list of credits that show off his versatility as a voice actor, including multiple roles in not just the same franchise, but also the same projects. On top of his Star Wars contributions, he has voiced Woodhouse and Hans Hessler for Archer, Professor Utonium (among other voices) on The Powerpuff Girls, Monkey Fist on Kim Possible, Takeo Masaki in various Call of Duty video game releases, and Ultron in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, to name just a handful.
Our thoughts here at CinemaBlend are with Tom Kane and his family as he works to recover following his stroke.
