Ed Asner

Ed Asner, born Eddie Asner and also credited as Edward Asner (November 15, 1929 - August 29, 2021), was an American actor and voice actor known to television audiences for his role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Lou Grant. He voiced Jabba the Hutt in the 1996 radio adaptation of the film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, recreating the character's Huttese dialogue without any electronic effects at his insistence. Asner later became the voice of Jedi Master Vrook Lamar in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The character's original voice actor, Pat Fraley, insisted on calling Asner for the part after seeing his name listed as a reference point for the character's voice. Asner later reprised the role in the game's 2004 sequel, The Sith Lords.

Early life and Return of the Jedi

Ed Asner was an American actor and voice actor, born Eddie Asner on November 15, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He worked as a voice actor in radio productions as a teenager and rose to prominence in the 1970s-80s as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff, Lou Grant, receiving numerous accolades.

Ed Asner's first Star Wars role was as the voice of Jabba the Hutt (pictured) in the radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi.

Ed Asner's first Star Wars role was as the voice of Jabba the Hutt (pictured) in the radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi.

In 1996, he was cast as the crime lord Jabba the Hutt in the National Public Radio (NPR) adaptation of the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Asner's notoriety meant that his casting drew attention to the production. He enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to a radio production like those of his youth, although he had not seen a Star Wars film at that time. In an article about the radio production, writer Kevin Burke commented that his role as Lou Grant may have informed his performance as the corpulent and aggressive Hutt.

Although he was initially unsure of how he would perform a non–English language role, Asner insisted on portraying Jabba,—whose dialogue is entirely in the fictional Huttese language— without the aid of electronic effects. He was also highly physical while recording his lines, describing himself as blowing up like a bullfrog as he spoke. As such, his costars would cram the studio to watch his performance, regardless of whether their presence was required. Anthony Daniels, who portrayed the protocol droid C-3PO, would crane his neck to watch Asner down the corridor from the privacy of his own booth.

During the recording sessions, Asner and several main cast members recorded a humorous goodwill message for Brian Daley, the radio drama's writer, who was ill with pancreatic cancer. Asner's contribution was to speak in Huttese dialogue before telling Daley to get well in slowly spoken English and falling asleep snoring. Recording took place throughout February of 1996, concluding on the 11th, and the radio production began broadcasting on November 5, 1996. Asner was credited as "Edward Asner" in the production.

In a later interview about the Star Wars radio series, Asner recalled a highly positive atmosphere in the recording studio, joking that Daley and director John Madden had been added to his will. He also commented that he would leap at the chance to play the slightly younger Jabba if adaptations of the prequel trilogy films were ever produced.

Knights of the Old Republic

During the end of production of the BioWare and LucasArts video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Asner's voice was used as a reference point in the casting notes for the character of Jedi Master Vrook Lamar. Voice actor Pat Fraley was originally cast as the character, but when he arrived to record dialogue, he offered to contact Asner, as they lived across the street from each other. To the surprise and terror of voice-over director Darragh O'Farrell, who was unsure as to whether LucasArts could afford the veteran actor, Fraley immediately telephoned Asner, who promptly arrived at the recording studio.

The casting notes for Vrook Lamar (pictured) used Ed Asner's voice as a reference point, which resulted in Asner himself taking the role.

The casting notes for Vrook Lamar (pictured) used Ed Asner's voice as a reference point, which resulted in Asner himself taking the role.

O'Farrell's attempts to describe the character as a Jedi were initially puzzling to Asner until he compared the character to "the Alec Guinness sort of thing," referring to that actor's portrayal of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy of Star Wars films. O'Farrell was too intimidated to ask Asner to remove the gum he had been chewing when he arrived at the studio until Fraley stepped in. The character's total dialogue took two hours to record. O'Farrell still felt intimidated as he pulled out the paperwork for Asner to sign for his paycheck, but the actor instead continued chatting to the voice-over director and signed the paperwork without even looking at it.

On May 23, 2003, an article on the gaming website IGN confirmed Asner's casting as Lamar. The article's author, Aaron Boulding, believed that his numerous film portrayals as "gruff and sometimes kind-hearted characters" would suit his role as a member of the Jedi High Council. Knights of the Old Republic was first released on the Xbox console on July 15, 2003. Later that year, Asner was interviewed about his role in the Return of the Jedi radio production in the article "Radio Days" by Rich Handley, included in the seventy-third issue of the Star Wars Insider magazine mailed to subscribers on December 26, 2003 and released on newsstands on January 13, 2004. In that interview, he described himself as a Star Wars fan. Asner reprised the role of Lamar in the sequel to Knights of the Old Republic, The Sith Lords, which was first released on Xbox on December 6, 2004. Asner died in his home on August 29, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.

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