- “You are making your bid for immortality. You are in a movie by Disney.”
- ―Tony Jay
Tony Jay was a British-American actor. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was best known for his very low, distinctive baritone voice.
History
Jay was born in London, England in 1933. He attended Pinner County Grammar School and completed his National Service with the Royal Air Force in 1953. He acted in several amateur theater productions but opted for the financial security of a real estate business. Jay moved to South Africa in about 1966, after hearing of the potential there for his line of work. However, Jay found himself acting in radio dramas, such as Sounds of Darkness, as well as commercials. He later returned to Britain where he worked in various television shows and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Following a tour of the play The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, he moved to the United States for more work.
For Disney, he voiced the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1992–2006), Monsieur D'Arque, the asylum owner in Beauty and the Beast, Shere Khan in TaleSpin and The Jungle Book 2, Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Narrator of both Treasure Planet and the English dub of Studio Ghibli's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Dr. Rosenthal in Recess: School's Out, Anubis in Gargoyles, the Grim Reaper in Darkwing Duck, the Magical Wishing Starfish in The Little Mermaid TV series, Khartoum in the Aladdin TV series, the German Poacher in The Legend of Tarzan, Wraith in The Mighty Ducks TV series, Magic Mirror in House of Mouse, Dr. Animus in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Dr. Werner Von Brain in Lloyd in Space, and the Jungle Inspector in Timon & Pumbaa. He also played Laszlo Glagorian in The Golden Girls and Dougie Milford in the ABC drama series Twin Peaks.
His film credits outside of Disney included Love and Death, Twins, My Stepmother Is an Alien, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, as well as television shows, such as Night Court, Eerie, Indiana, Beauty and the Beast, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Matlock, and Who's the Boss?. His voice-over work also included animated films, such as the American dub of Asterix and the Big Fight, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, The Rugrats Movie, and An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, as well as animated TV programs, which included ReBoot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), The Tick, Hey Arnold!, Fantastic Four (1994), Johnny Bravo, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Tom & Jerry Kids, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, 2 Stupid Dogs, and the video game series Legacy of Kain.
In April 2006, Jay had undergone surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to remove a non-cancerous tumor from his lungs. Afterwards, he became critically ill and died on August 13, 2006.
Roles
(Aladdin TV series)
(Dragon Friend)
(Mickey Mouse Works)
(Buzz Lightyear of Star Command)
(Lloyd in Space)
-_The_Rift.jpg "Poacher (Tarzan)- The Rift.jpg (33 KB)")
(The Haunted Mansion; Ha Ha Halloween promo)
Gallery
Trivia
- Despite being known for playing villains, such as Frollo, Shere Khan, and Monsieur D'Arque, Jay was known to friends and co-stars as a very kind and friendly man.
- Outside of his various Disney roles, he also starred, alongside Rob Paulsen, in the 1993 animated series Mighty Max. Jay voiced Virgil, while Paulsen voiced the titular character.
- Another one of Jay's most iconic roles was as the voice of computer virus Megabyte, one of the main villains of the computer-animated television series ReBoot, which had been cancelled after its second season on ABC, due to the channel's purchase by Disney in 1996.
- He also voiced the Ghost Host from The Haunted Mansion ride based on the 2003 film of the same name and Heady, as seen in the Ha Ha Halloween craft project segments, which used to air during commercials on Old Disney.
