In less than a month, four voices connected to completely different generations of animation, anime and gaming have gone quiet. But the characters they gave life to never will. 🕊️
• Mike McFarland was far more than the voice of Master Roshi, Jean Kirstein and Buggy the Clown. As an ADR director, writer and producer, he helped shape the English-language sound of anime including Fullmetal Alchemist, Dragon Ball and Attack on Titan. His influence was often heard even when his own voice wasn’t.
• Peter Cullen became something incredibly rare: a performer whose voice became inseparable from a hero. For more than four decades, Optimus Prime carried Cullen’s strength, dignity and warmth, inspired by his brother’s advice to be “strong enough to be gentle.” He also gave generations the wonderfully gloomy Eeyore.
• Tim Curry could make almost any character unforgettable. Beyond Rocky Horror, IT and Clue, his voice work gave us Nigel Thornberry, an Emmy-winning Captain Hook, and Chancellor Palpatine. Few performers could make a character sound hilarious, sinister and completely larger-than-life quite like him.
• And Hayden Panettiere reached audiences from childhood onward, voicing Dot in A Bug’s Life and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts before becoming the face and voice of Sam in Until Dawn. Her career crossed television, film, animation and gaming, giving different generations completely different reasons to remember her.
Four very different performers. Four voices attached to characters millions grew up with. The microphones may be silent now, but press play, start a game or revisit an old episode, and they’re right there again. ❤️
Again, we say goodbye to another legend today at 66 🕊️🎙️
One of the most recognizable voices in dubbing has gone silent.
Veteran voice actor Ettore Zuim has passed away at 66, leaving behind more than four decades of work across animation, anime, movies, television and video games.
For Disney fans, he became especially memorable as the Brazilian Portuguese voice of Hercules in the 1997 animated classic and David Kawena in Lilo & Stitch. DC fans also knew him as Bruce Wayne / Batman, dubbing Christian Bale throughout The Dark Knight trilogy and portraying the character in games including Batman: Arkham Origins, Arkham Knight and Injustice: Gods Among Us.
His incredible list of characters also included:
• Hercules — Hercules
• Bruce Wayne / Batman — The Dark Knight Trilogy / Batman: Arkham / Injustice
• Dracule Mihawk — One Piece
• Mugen — Samurai Champloo
• Prince Charming — Shrek 2 / Shrek the Third
• Nigel Uno / Numbuh 1 — Codename: Kids Next Door
• Jon Arbuckle — Garfield
• Yakko Warner — Animaniacs
• Heiter — Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
• Eric the Cavalier — Dungeons & Dragons
• Fire Lord Sozin — Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Noah — Total Drama
• Hotstreak — Static Shock
• Shen — League of Legends
• David Kawena — Lilo & Stitch
From Disney and DC to One Piece, Frieren, Shrek and gaming, Ettore Zuim helped make characters from around the world feel at home to generations of Portuguese-speaking fans.
Rest in peace, Ettore Zuim. The characters will remain, and so will the voice that made so many of them unforgettable. 🕯️
Peter Cullen was one of my childhood heroes. Someone who's voice I heard every weekend watching Saturday morning cartoons.
They say never to meet your heroes. Well I met Peter, and was fortunate to work with him for years. He exceeded every preconceived notion I had of him. He was a funny, massively talented, kind, gentle soul, and I'm lucky to have called him friend (and Optimus)
Rest easy, Peter. We'll miss you ❤️