Ted Thomas, Hong Kong-Based Voice Actor for Godzilla and Bruce Lee Films, Passes Away at Age 93

Ted Thomas during his younger days. Photo courtesy of Ted Thomas.

Word has come from Hong Kong voice actor Peter Boczar that Ted Thomas, the legendary dubber who lent his voice to a variety of tokusatsu productions of the 1960s and '70s, passed away in Thailand on November 26 at the age of 93. 

According to Peter:

His family spread his ashes in Hong Kong harbor a couple of weeks ago, Sunday, Jan 29 then held a small gathering of old friends and family at the Foreign Correspondents' Club where I gave a short tribute[.]

Born in England on July 11, 1929, Ted Thomas would become a cult movie icon when he started his dubbing company Axis International in Hong Kong, which provided English dubbing for a variety of Asian films, including the Godzilla series.

Among his various dubbing credits, Ted Thomas voiced such characters as Dr. Munakata in Dogora the Space Monster (1964), Kawajiri in Gamera vs. Barugon (1966), Kubota in Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), Emperor Antonio (played by Robert Dunham) in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and the narrator of Gamera Super Monster (1980). He can be seen onscreen in Mighty Peking Man (1977) as the commissioner who leads the effort to stop the titular creature's rampage. 

Not only that, but he also voiced Godzilla himself in Godzilla vs. Gigan when Godzilla is on and swimming away from Monster Island.

In June 2011, I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Thomas over the phone, which can be found here. The day before we were scheduled to do the interview, I got sick and had to postpone the interview for a week, but fortunately Mr. Thomas was very accommodating. He gave me a great interview the following week and even did quite a bit of editing on the transcript I made. We stayed in touch for a few years after that -- both via email and telephone.

I would occasionally call him at The Hong Kong Club where he was a frequent guest. One time in particular, when he picked up the phone, he couldn't hear what I was saying due to all the noise in the background. He excused himself from our conversation for a moment and then shouted, "SHUT UP!" at the top of his voice, which shushed the folks in the background. Then he proceeded to speak with me as if that hadn't just happened. Suffice it to say, he was a unique individual.

The last time I seem to have received any correspondence from Mr. Thomas was in July 2015, after I sent him an email wishing him a happy birthday. Following that, he never answered any further emails I sent, and I couldn't get a hold of him on the phone. I found out later that he retired to Thailand, but that's all I knew. I would never again communicate with him. 

I'm saddened to hear the news of his passing, but I'll always remember his witty banter in our personal conversations, as well as his iconic voice -- probably the most distinctive voice of any voice actor from any Japanese tokusatsu production. 

Rest in peace, Ted Thomas.