Erik Bauersfeld (June 28, 1922 – April 3, 2016) was an American

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...

tist and

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

. His most notable role was providing the voices of

Admiral Ackbar Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar is a fictional character from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. A member of the amphibious Mon Calamari species, Ackbar was the foremost military commander of the Rebel Alliance, and he led the attack against the secon ...

and Bib Fortuna in the third film of the original Star Wars trilogy, ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...

'' (1983), the former of which he subsequently reprised in '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015).

Early life

Bauersfeld was attracted to radio work at a very young age. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. His post-secondary education included time studying at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

in New York, and then at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he concentrated on

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

and painting.

Career

Bauersfeld was teaching at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

, when he began working at

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conce ...

station

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is a public, listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed o ...

-FM in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

, beginning in 1961. He served as the Director of KPFA's Drama and Literature Department for 31 years. Outside of radio, he dabbled in voiceover work in films and video games. Bauersfeld was working at

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

on a radio project, with sound designer Randy Thom, when eventually he was approached by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt. Burtt asked him to read for the part of Ackbar. According to Bauersfeld, he was shown a picture of Ackbar and instantly came up with the character's voice. Ackbar's lines, including the memorable exclamation "It's a trap!", took an hour for Bauersfeld to record. He then spent an additional 30 minutes reading for the voice of Bib Fortuna, who was

Jabba the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure, better known as Jabba the Hutt ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Initially performed by Declan Mulholland as a human in the original ''Star Wars'' film, Jabba first appeared properly in the 198 ...

majordomo A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a larg ...

. Both of his vocal parts were added to the finished production of ''

'', but Bauersfeld received no screen credit at the time. He was the last person to read for the part of

Yoda Yoda () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force. He first appeared in the 1980 film '' The Empire Strikes Back'', in which he is voiced and puppeteered by F ...

, a role that eventually went to puppeteer

Frank Oz Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through ''The Muppets'', ''Sesame Street'', and '' ...

. He also voiced several characters in the 1979 Highbridge audio productions of ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'' and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

''. Bauersfeld reprised his role as the voice of Admiral Ackbar in several video games (including '' Star Wars: X-Wing'' and '' Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron''), as well as in '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens''. Following his death in 2016, the role of Ackbar was taken over by veteran ''Star Wars'' voice actor

Tom Kane Tom Kane (born 1962) is an American former voice actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Career Kane began his voice acting career in 1977 when he was just 14 years old. Some of his ...

for '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi''.

Personal life and death

He was a close friend of poet and activist

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and ...

. In 2015, he attended the Star Wars Celebration at Anaheim. Bauersfeld died at his home in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, on 3 April 2016, at the age of 93.

Filmography

Films

Video games

References

External links

* * http://bardradio.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bauersfeld, Erik 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 1922 births 2016 deaths American male voice actors American radio personalities Male actors from Brooklyn Male actors from Berkeley, California Pacifica Foundation people University of California, Berkeley alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II