Rick May (September 21, 1940 – April 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

performer, director, and teacher. May provided the English-language voice for Peppy Hare and Andross in ''

Star Fox 64 known as ''Lylat Wars'' in the PAL regions, is a 3D rail shooter video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the ''Star Fox'' series and a reboot of the original ''Star Fox'' for the Super Nintendo Enter ...

'', the

Soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

in ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, ''Team Fortress Classic''. The game was rel ...

'', and Dr. M in '' Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves'', among other video game characters. He also played

Inspector Lestrade Detective Inspector G. Lestrade, or Mr. Lestrade ( or ), is a fictional character appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel ...

in the long running radio show ''

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a series of radio dramas based on Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes. Written by Bert Coules as a pastiche of Doyle's work, the series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002, 2004, 20 ...

'' from 1998 through 2020.

Early life

May was born on September 21, 1940. He was raised in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. May attended Roosevelt High School in Seattle and

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Ola ...

(class of 1962) in

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. ...

Career

May served in the U.S. military and was stationed in Japan, where he coordinated

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

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. In one production of the '' Cotton Patch Gospel'' in Renton, May played all 21 roles with a variety of voices. He retired from the Renton Civic Theatre in 2001 to begin his own theater company in

Kirkland, Washington Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. A suburb east of Seattle, its population was 92,175 in the 2020 U.S. census which made it the sixth largest city in the county and the twelfth largest in the state. The city's downt ...

, and become a full-time actor. He began voice acting in video games in the late 1990s, including roles as Peppy Hare and Andross in ''

''; various campaign characters, including

Genghis Khan ''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr /> Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan'' , birth_name = Temüjin , successor = Tolui (as regent) Ögedei Khan , spouse = , issue = , house = Borjigin ...

, in '' Age of Empires II''; and the Soldier in ''

''. From 1998 through 2020, May played

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. The last two episodes of ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' to feature May were recorded in late 2019, and were first broadcast in May 2020. May played the role of Inspector Lestrade longer than any other actor in the history of broadcasting.

Death and tributes

May suffered a stroke in February 2020, and was moved to a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

for rehabilitation. On April 8, 2020, it was reported that May had died from complications related to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

at Swedish Medical Center in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. On May 1, 2020,

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

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 featured a commemorative plaque dedicated to May, and remained in maps until June 1. The statues reappeared in the same locations on April 12, 2021 and 2022. The statues emit a number of pre-selected voice lines from the Soldier when approached. On August 21, 2020, a permanent tribute memorial was placed, in the form of a Soldier statue, and heads on the fence in front of the statue of the Soldier, in the map "cp_granary", which is the setting of the ''Team Fortress 2'' video " Meet the Soldier".

Acting credits

Theater

May performed in numerous roles throughout his theatrical career, including: *

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Ser ...

(in '' Julius Caesar'') *

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a m ...

(in '' 1776'') *

Tevye Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman ( yi, טבֿיה דער מילכיקער, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and various adaptations of th ...

(in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 190 ...

'') *

Willy Loman William "Willy" Loman is a fictional character and the protagonist of Arthur Miller's play ''Death of a Salesman'', which debuted on Broadway with Lee J. Cobb playing Loman at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949. Loman is a 63-year-old ...

(in ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a monta ...

'') *Alfred Doolittle (in ''Pygmalion'') *

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

(in ''Bully!'') * King Henry II (in ''

The Lion in Winter ''The Lion in Winter'' is a 1966 play by James Goldman, depicting the personal and political conflicts of Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. It premiered on Broadway at the ...

'') *

(on radio in ''

'') His

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

s include: * Peppy Hare and Andross - ''

'' *Dr. M - '' Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves'' * The Soldier - ''

'' *

- '' Age of Empires II''

Filmography

*''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronn ...

'' (1973) as Boy in the Car *''

Frances Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "French ...

'' (1982) as Policeman *'' The Chocolate War'' (1988) as Doctor *'' Child in the Night'' (1990, TV Movie) as Captain Hook

References

External links

*
Rick May's website
(Archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Rick 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 voice actors American male radio actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male video game actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian male radio actors Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington (state) United States Army soldiers Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry St. Olaf College alumni