Rick May
Rick May | |
---|---|
Born | September 21, 1940 |
Died | April 8, 2020 Seattle, Washington, U.S. | (aged 79)
Alma mater | St. Olaf College |
Occupation(s) | Voice actor, teacher, theatre actor |
Rick May (September 21, 1940 – April 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American voice actor and theatrical performer, director, and teacher from Seattle, Washington. May provided the English-language voice for Peppy Hare in Star Fox 64 and Soldier in Team Fortress 2, among other video games.
Early life
May was born on September 21, 1940.[citation needed] He was raised in Washington and Canada.[1] May attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle and St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.[2]
Career
May served in the U.S. military and was stationed in Japan, where he coordinated USO shows in Tokyo. May returned to the Seattle area to serve as the director of the Renton Civic Theatre and Civic Light Opera in Renton, Washington.[1] In one production of the Cotton Patch Gospel in Renton, May played all 21 roles with a variety of voices.[3] He retired from the Renton Civic Theatre in 2001 to begin his own theater company in Kirkland, Washington, and become a full-time actor.[4][5]
He began voice acting in video games in the late 1990s, including roles as Peppy Hare and Andross in Star Fox 64; various campaign characters, including Genghis Khan, in Age of Empires II; and Soldier in Team Fortress 2.[6]
From 1998 through 2019, Rick May played Inspector Lestrade in the Imagination Theatre radio series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He also played Lestrade in the related radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and played various roles in other Imagination Theatre radio dramas.[7] Two episodes of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Rick May, recorded in late 2019,[8] were first broadcast in May 2020.[9]
Roles
May performed in numerous roles throughout his theatrical career, including:[1][6]
- Brutus (in Julius Caesar)
- Benjamin Franklin (in 1776)
- Tevye (in Fiddler on the Roof)
- Willy Loman (in Death of a Salesman)
- Alfred Doolittle (in Pygmalion)
- Theodore Roosevelt (in Bully!)
- King Henry II (in The Lion in Winter)
- Captain Hook (in Child in the Night, TV film)
- Inspector Lestrade (on radio in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
His voice-overs include:[6]
- Peppy Hare and Andross - Star Fox 64
- Dr. M - Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
- The Soldier - Team Fortress 2
- Genghis Khan - Age of Empires II
- Dadfish and Marty Sardini in Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove.
- Wingnut in Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening.
Film
May appeared in a scene in George Lucas' American Graffiti.
Death
May suffered a stroke in February 2020 and was moved to a nursing home for rehabilitation. On April 8, 2020, it was reported that May had died due to complications related to COVID-19 at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.[6][10]
On May 1, 2020, Valve released an update to Team Fortress 2 adding a tribute to May's voice work as the Soldier in the form of a new main menu theme titled "Saluting The Fallen" (a rendition of Taps), and locking the character image in the main menu to Soldier. The update also added statues of the Soldier saluting to most of the official in-game maps. These statues all feature a commemorative plaque dedicated to May, and remained in maps until the June 1st.[11][12] The statues emit a number of pre-selected voice lines from the Soldier when approached.[12] Many Team Fortress 2 fans have released tribute videos on YouTube to tribute May.
References
- ^ a b c Wright, Diane (September 14, 2005). "Stage chameleon tackles role of Teddy Roosevelt". The Seattle Times. p. H23. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ May, Rick. "Rick May". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
- ^ West, Phil (December 11, 1992). "Gospel according to Renton Civic Theatre". The Seattle Times. p. 34.
- ^ Giroux, Wendy (November 6, 2001). "Renton theater battles final curtain". King County Journal.
- ^ Adcock, Joe (September 18, 2001). "Theater Beat: Empty Space to fill a new space—temporarily". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Rick May – In Memoriam". Rekindle School. April 8, 2020. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ "Video Games and Audio Dramas Meet at Imagination Theater". Imagination Theatre. January 23, 2020. Archived from the original on February 5, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ Albert, Larry (April 28, 2020). "Imagination Theatre News". Imagination Theatre. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
- ^ "Jim French's Imagination Theatre". KIXI. Hubbard Radio Seattle. 2020. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
- ^ Chalk, Andy (April 13, 2020). "Rick May, voice of the Soldier in Team Fortress 2, has died". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- ^ Wilde, Tyler (May 2, 2020). "Rick May tribute added to Team Fortress 2". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 3, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
- ^ a b TF2 Team (May 4, 2020). "A Hell of a Campaign". Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
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External links
- 1940 births
- 2020 deaths
- American theatre directors
- Male actors from Seattle
- Military personnel from Seattle
- People from Kirkland, Washington
- American male stage actors
- American male video game actors
- American male radio actors
- Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state)
- United States Army soldiers
- United States Army personnel
- United Service Organizations
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry