Erik Bauersfeld, American radio dramatist (KPFA) and voice actor, Died at 93

  Actor, Media

Erik Bauersfeld was born on June 28, 1922, and died on April 3, 2016.

He was an American radio dramatist and voice actor.

Erik Bauersfeld most notable role was providing the voices of Admiral Ackbar and Bib Fortuna in the third film of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi.

He had reprised his role as the voice of Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.

Erik served as the Director of KPFA drama and literature department for 31 years.

Besides his work on radio, Erik dabbled in voice-over work in films and video games.

He was working at Lucasfilm on a radio project with sound designer Randy Thom, there he was approached by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt.

Burtt asked him to read for the part of Ackbar.

And according to Bauersfeld, he was shown a picture of Ackbar and instantly came up with the character’s voice.

For him the Ackbar’s lines only took an hour for Bauersfeld to record.

Erik Bauersfeld then spent an additional 30 minutes reading for the voice of Bib Fortuna, who was Jabba the Hutt’s majordomo.

Even though both of his vocal parts were added to the finished production of Return of the Jedi, but Bauersfeld received no screen credit at the time.

Erik Bauersfeld was also the last person to read for the part of Yoda, a role that eventually went to puppeteer Frank Oz.

Erik Bauersfeld passed away at 93 yrs old.