The man who provided the voice for Peppy Hare and Andross in Star Fox 64 has passed away at the age of 79 due to the coronavirus, it has been revealed.
Rick May – who uttered the immortal "do a barrel roll" line in the classic N64 game – suffered from a stroke in February of this year and was moved to a nursing home in order to recuperate. He contracted Covid-19 during his time there, and sadly died after being transferred to a Swedish hospital.
As well as his fine work on Star Fox 64, he also worked on titles such as Team Fortress 2, Age of Empires 2, Sly 2: Honor Among Thieves and SOCOM II. His most notable movie role is one he wasn't even credited for at the time – he briefly appears in George Lucas' American Graffiti, the film he directed before he made his fortune with Star Wars.
Outside of voice acting, Rick was a a teacher at the Rekindle School, which has a dedicated email address for anyone who wishes to send their condolences to Rick's family. Simply email your messages to [email protected] and they will be passed on.
We'd like to take this moment to offer our own condolences to Rick's family and friends. He will be missed.
[source classesandworkshops.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 84
RIP Peppy. Star Fox 64 is one of the best games ever made, thanks for your work.
Very sad news. My condolences to his family and friends.
Do a barrel roll up there bud, RIP.
This actually hurt me. He'll be missed. If someone talks , he'll be barrel rolling in his grave. So don't. He was a good man. Do a barrel roll in heaven for me, Rick.
He also voiced Soldier in TF2, one of my favorite characters in media...a really sad day. All I see are people posting gifs F online and it really pisses me off to see a real human death be dismissed with a "funny gif"
He was also the voice actor for Soldier from Team Fortress 2. Really sad to hear about this. Rest in Peace.
I had no Idea he was soldier, man that's unfortunate. My prayers for the people he left behind.
Aww that’s a real shame, he’s got such a distinctive voice and his work really made that game. He’ll be missed for sure.
Soldier's quote in Expiration Date now sort of rings true.
"WE ARE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER!"
Indeed you will, Rick, now through Soldier, Peppy, and many others.
This is sad to hear. i really like Star Fox 64 and Team Fortress 2. Rest in Peace and thank you for the great talent in gaming.
Sad to hear about this. My sincere condolences to his family, friends, co-workers and students, all of which I'm sure will miss him dearly.
This is the most depressing thing I’ve ever read.
RIP the realest Soldier out there
I'm more upset on HOW he got it!
How irresponsible to allow the virus to slip into a nursing home, they putting all of those elderly at risk, he is likely one of many from that stupid nursing home who got the virus! GRRR!!! Instead of helping him, they killed him!
My condolences to his family and all his loved ones, i hope they stay safe.
Awful, awful news. My condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues... we've lost an icon today.
Sadly a lot of people are getting the virus from nursing homes. This really sucks. I loved Star Fox 64 and Peppy's constant need to be a flying tutorial added a lot of charm to the game for me personally. I hate this damn virus.
@Chibi_Manny That's what I was thinking. A lot of these people can't protect themselves from these illnesses so their lives are almost completely in the hands of their caretakers.
@Chibi_Manny What do you expect to happen?
Nursing homes need care workers. Unless the workers decide to quarantine at the facility themselves it's inevitable.
Really sad all the way around
@ReaperExTenebris
But with the "old" influenza (which is responsible for several 100.000s of death each year), thatˋs not a problem, right? No no, but with this new and fancy Corona-virus, NOW everyone needs to watch out. 🙄
Do a barrel roll up there for all of us, Rick.
RIP, Thanks for the memories
@Cevil moron not just the elderly any age with health problems are being hit hard from this as well.
lets everyone do a Barrel Roll to honor his memory.
I hope he's doing barrel rolls in heaven
I started to watch that video of all his lines, and I started to tear up when he said “Never give up, trust your instincts”. I forgot Peppy said that line
It's weird how much this hits me. Like... thousands have died already, but this is the first person who's died who's 'work' I cared about. It's not rational at all, like I really should care about everyone dying in NYC and all over the place. But the news tends to focus on other things and so mostly I'm just annoyed by all of this. But this is sad.
Prayers and well wishes to this man's family. He will indeed be missed!
Sad news indeed. RIP
I always loved Peppy's voice. I haven't played much starfox, but the little I heard of him In starlink was enough to make me realize he's the best. Love you. Do me a favor man, play some smash with Etika up there. You will be missed.
RIP
Star Fox 64 is a top 10 game of all time for me. It's infinitely repayable and a huge part of the fun is the voice acting. Peppy was always my dude.
Ugh! UUUUUGH! R.I.P. Rick. The unpreparedness of our "leaders" for this virus is maddening.
Keep on teleporting bread, Soldier. I salute you while doing the Kazotsky Kick. =(
He was a teacher? No wonder Peppy did all the tutorial work in Star Fox 64. Do a barrel roll in heaven, my good man.
You were good son, real good. Maybe even one of the best.
Star Fox 64 is the reason why I wanted a Nintendo 64 for Christmas when was little. So sad to hear this news...
Fire up Star Fox and do a barrel roll for Rick 😇
Aaaaagggghhhhhhh maaannn. I always play Star Fox 64 around summer trying to relive my glory days. For sure I’ll be playing, thinking of him, especially now. Really sad news, RIP Rick.... you’ll be missed
One of the greatest video games of all time with one of the most iconic lines ever. Thanks for being a small, but memorable part of my childhood. Rest in peace.
I never was that big on Star Fox 64 but a friend of mine back in the day used to play the heck out of that game. RIP Rick.
Great that's all we need....
Rest in Peace.
Fun Fact: Star Fox 64 was the game that got me to learn English on my own all those years back.
I played it so much, i basically learned its script by ear and with that foundation set, i learned a new language
So, thanks to Rick May, i got hooked into learning one of my most valuable skills today. Man...i was 9 back then...
Well, a good reason for yet another playthrough.
R.I.P. Mr. May.
RIP, sad state of the world today.
Oh man, I didn't know he voiced Peppy... that makes it hurt even more. Rest in peace. :<
Starfox team wont be the same without you buddy, Rest in Peace
You were good son, real good, maybe even the best.
Pretty tragic to hear. I never realized Peppy and the Soldier from TF2 were voiced by the same person. Also wanted to point out a slight error in the article. Rick May didn't voice anyone in Sly 2. He did however voice Dr M in Sly 3
Rest in peace legend x x x x x x x x
@thesilverbrick I am legitimately saddened by this. Star Fox 64 has a very special place in my heart.
According to wikipedia he did not die at a swedish hospital. He died in a hospital in Seattle called the Swedish medical center.
I never realised Peppy had an accent before listening to this. I’m impressed at how many lines of dialog there were in the game. All well acted to.
R.I.P Rick
Rest in peace
@Chibi_Manny I wouldn’t blame the nursing home necessarily. Family members of other patients could’ve also transmitted the virus during a visit. However it ended up there, the fact that these people are in constant contact with staff and that there are sometimes no overt symptoms of the virus at first means that spreading it once it gets in is easy, unfortunately. Same goes for hospitals, prisons, and other kinds of shelters!
A minute of "do a barrel roll" on google is in order. RIP Rick
Very sad news RIP Peppy.
His voice will live on. RIP
You go on ahead, we'll back you up Rick.
RIP
RIP Soldier. He already had problems with the role due to throat problems.
Also now imagine TF2 Soldier instead of Peppy in Star Fox. “You call it a barrel roll, MAGGOT?!”
Very sad news. Rest in peace.
@Muriustar Been doing exactly that!
RIP hard.
Very sad news, he will be missed.
This i very sad to read. My deepest condolences go out to everyone effected by this news. Family mambers, friends, pupils, guys reading this post etc. Star fox 64 is one of my favorite games of all time and holds a massive place in my heart. Its an absolute master class of a multi path shooter. Great gameplay, great voice acting, great environments and level design and iconic characters. Im certainly going to fire this game up today and reminisce of great times past taking special note of Rick's work. Thank you Rick. May you forever be barrel rolling over our heads.
Rest in Peace
@MrBlacky Covid-19 is much more dangerous than flu. US flu deaths are a maximum of 60k per year. Covid has killed 23k in less than 2 months.
@chardir
No, it's NOT, for gods sake! 🙄
Slight correction:
It's Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves and he played Dr M the main antagonist of Sly 3.
Sly 2's title was Sly 2: Band of Thieves.
RIP Rick
@Patrick-Sukiyaki
No. Just no. This is neither the time nor place to be trying to spread unsourced conspiracy theories, especially not ones that would seek to convince people to dismiss a serious public health crisis.
Take that **** outta here.
Very sad news indeed, RIP.
The worst thing anyone can do is politicize the death of a hero.
Farewell, Rick. We will barrel roll in your memory.
Man, aside from Age of Empires II the guy had two very famous roles. Rest in peace.
Use the Boost to Chase and Do a Barrel Roll onto Heaven Rick, Thanks for the memories <3
Terribly sad & my condolences to his family & everyone who knew him. His words are engrained in videogame culture & will live on for many years to come.
@Fath
It's not a conspiracy theory, a doctor in my locality suggested to a family that's father recently died if they let him put the death down as coronavirus they would not need to do a postmortem. It's true.
Very sad and depressing. I'm going to play the N64 version on my Wii U today in his honour...
@A_standard_idiot
The Covid-19 virus is NOT, NOT, NOT more dangerous than the "old" influenza. Itˋs NEW so we donˋt have any vaccine or some kind of resist against it at the moment.
And like I wrote, how can it be we have hundreds of thousands of influenza death a year, DESPITE having a vaccine and basic resist? I can tell you why, because no one f**** cares, because itˋs "just" the "regular flu". 👌
@RPGamer Something along the lines of "hurr durr just a typical victim, we need to #REOPENAMERICANOW!!!!!"
Y'know... standard far-right garbage surrounding this.
@DrDaisy @LuigiTornado @keihtg
After putting more thought into it, I realized I jumped to conclusions with my previous post because I let my emotions get to me. Is not 100% the nursing home's fault because unfortunately is impossible to fully control traffic of this deadly disease, it could have been brought in by a nurse or any staff member, or a visiting family member, or even another elderly patient themselves. This is sad... I hope all our other elderly heroes stay safe. 😢
@mesome713 never played it but Ya but I know it is pretty good
Rest in peace, Rick-san.
no
: - (
so over this simulation.
This is Fox signing off...
Rest in peace, mr Rick.
And thank you for all the good memories.
Press F to pay respects
We are no longer doing a barrel roll anymore
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