Tony Jay (born on February 2nd, 1933 and died on August 13th, 2006) was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice acting work in animated films, TV Shows and video games. Jay's distinctive deep, and Baritone voice often landed him in villainous roles. He was best known as the voice of Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (film), and Megabyte in Reboot.
TV Shows and Films
2 Stupid Dogs – The Chief
The Ancient Prophecies specials hosted by David McCallum on NBC in the mid 1990s –Announcer/Introduction
The Golden Girls – Hungarian sculptor Laszlo
Lois and Clark – Nigel St. John
Twin Peaks – Dougie Milford
Garfield and friends – Edward F. Furrow
Tale Spin – Shere Khan
Peter Pan and the Pirates – Alf Mason
Caesar's Magical Empire attraction – Ceronomus the wizard
The Little Mermaid – The Magical Wishing Starfish
The Tick – Chairface Chippendale
Beethoven – Watson
Beauty and the Beast – Paracelsus
ReBoot – Megabyle
Spider Man the Animted series (1994) – Baron Mordo
Mighty Ducks the Animated series – The Wraith
Darkwing Duck – Death
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command – Dr. Animus
Spider Man The animated series – Baron Mordo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Lord Dregg
Mighty Max – Virgil the Lemurian
Superman the animated series – Sul Van
Rugrats – Dr. Lipschitz
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends – Spiderus (Note: This was Jay's final role before his death)
Skeleton Warriors cartoon series – The Narrator
Hey Arnold – Rex Smythe Higgins I & "mythical disembodied voice"
Courage the Cowardly Dog – Jeeves Weevil
House of Mouse – Shere Khan, The Magic Mirror and The Ostrich
Xyber 9 – Mechestro
Twisted tales of Felix the Cat – Jaggo Donut
CapTain Planet – The Yeti
Savage Dragon – Overlord
Aladdin TV Series – Khartoum (Episode "the book of Khartourm")
Time Bandits – the Supreme Being
Monsieur D'arque, the asylum owner, in Beauty and the Beast
Lickboot the Lawyer in Tom and Jerry the Movie
Judge Cluade Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Jay also does his character's singing voice) (in this role he was also nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting)
Dr. Rosenthal in Recess School's Out
Reginald in All Dogs go to Heaven 2
Shere Khan in The Jungle Book 2, and the same character in Tale Spin and House of Mouse
Narrator in Treasure Planet
Narrator in Teen Titans Ep. Transformation
Cow in Thumbelina
Video Games
Captain Saladin, ArchDruid, Gate and Lamp Trader in King's Quest VL: heir today, gone tommorrow.
November 1996 : Mortanius the Necromancer in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
The Elder God in the Legacy of Kain series
Zephon in Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver
November 1997 : Lieutenant in Fallout
January 2004 : General Attis in Fallout Brotherhood of steel
February 1998 : The Sorcerer in Die by the sword (1998 computer game)
December 1999 : The Transcendent One in Planescape Torment
March 2000 : Shere Khan in The Jungle Book Groove Party
June 2000 : Kresselack in Icewind Date
November 2000 : Mithras in Sacrifice
November 2001 : The Director in Return to the castle Wolfenstein
December 2001 : Xantam the Beholder in Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance
March 2003 : Chancellor Florian Gustov Niemann in Freelancer
December 2003 : King Forge in Armed and Dangerous (video game)
January 2004 : Leader of the Rangers in Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
February 2004 : Peles in Champions Of Norrath
September 2004 : Magneto in X men Legends
October 2004 : The Narrator in The Birds Tale
Quotes
“You are making your bid for immortality, you are in a movie by Disney".
He was the voice of Br'er Frog in the Disneyland version of Splash Mountain.
Apparently his roles as villains was so well known, that it was even emulated by certain voice actors. For example Richard Waugh's performance as Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series was cited to have been based on that of Tony Jay's performance as Shere Khan. Tony Jay's voice also served as an inspiration for Helmut Bakaitis' performance as The Architect from The Matrix Reloaded.
