Call of Duty Zombies voice actor Tom Kane dies at 64

Tom Kane was one of the voices that made Call of Duty Zombies feel like its own universe, and now that sound is gone. Kane died at 64 in Kansas City, Missouri, from complications tied to the stroke he suffered in 2020, according to his representative, Zach McGinnis. He was surrounded by family.

For Call of Duty players, Kane’s name is welded to Takeo Masaki, the sword-wielding Ultimis warrior who appeared across Treyarch’s Zombies run from Call of Duty: World at War through Black Ops, Black Ops II, Black Ops III and Black Ops IV. He also voiced Dr. Schuster in the Black Ops Zombies storyline, another role that tied his voice to the series’ long-running Aether saga. In Black Ops 4, Ultimis Takeo returned as a playable character in Classified and Alpha Omega, which only deepened how familiar that performance had become to players over time.

That familiarity was the point. Kane had a voice that could switch from battlefield authority to sly menace without losing clarity, and that made him a perfect fit for Zombies, where dialogue carried as much personality as the maps themselves. His delivery gave Takeo a distinct edge inside a cast that fans replayed, quoted and memed for years. When he spoke, the mode sounded bigger, stranger and more theatrical, and that helped define the tone Treyarch built around the undead.

Kane’s reach went far beyond Call of Duty, which is why his death is landing hard across gaming and animation circles alike. He was widely known for voicing Yoda and Professor Utonium, and he also narrated the Walt Disney World monorail and the Happily Ever After fireworks show. His career began in Kansas City, where IMDb says he started professional voice work at 15, and his résumé stretched through commercials, trailers, TV promos and major franchises.

Kane suffered a stroke in November 2020 that damaged his ability to speak, write and read, and he retired from voice acting in 2021. Still, the roles that made him famous kept echoing long after he left the booth. In Call of Duty Zombies, especially, his work never really needed a farewell. Takeo Masaki and Dr. Schuster already made sure of that.