Longtime Yoda actor Tom Kane suffers stroke that leaves him unable to speak

Tom Kane has been the voice of Yoda on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and in other projects for 20 years. He’s going through a crisis.

During his time on the big and small screens, Yoda has been voiced by two people: the role was originated by Frank Oz, who also did the puppeteering. He played Yoda in the original movies, the prequels, and in the show Star Wars Rebels. But voice actor Tom Kane has also left his mark on the character, playing him in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, and many Star Wars video games. All told, Kane has been playing Yoda for 20 years and has established quite a legacy.

But it’s possible his time as Luke Skywalker’s mentor is at an end. Writing on his Facebook page, Tom’s daughter Sam announced that her dad has suffered a stroke that’s rendered him largely unable to speak:

"About two months ago he had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech center of his brain. This means right now he cannot efficiently communicate verbally, nor read or spell. He is still competent and very much himself, but can only get out a few words right now. As many of you might know about strokes, it is possible for him to gain these functions back and we have found him excellent care in Kansas City for speech, occupational, and physical therapy, but for now, we have been warned by his Neurologist that he may not do Voiceovers again.My dad still remains in good spirits and his extreme stubbornness has helped him already show improvements in speech. He is fully on board with me sharing this and he will see anything you guys post."

The pictures accompanying the post do indeed suggest that the 58-year-old Kane, who’s been a professional voice actor since the age of 15, is in good spirits, which is great to see. Still, it’d be a shame if he wasn’t able to return to voice acting, but it’s early on yet.

We wish Tom Kane and his family a speedy recovery.

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h/t New York Post