Dialogue coach and Star Wars actor Andrew Jack has passed away due to complications from the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Jack’s representative Jill McCullough shared the news of his death with TMZ Tuesday. The 76-year-old passed away in London while battling the novel virus that has taken the lives of almost 40,000 people worldwide. The current state of the pandemic made it so that Jack’s wife was quarantined in Australia and was unable to be with him during his last days, and with so many restrictions set on socialization right now, it’s also increasingly unlikely that a proper funeral will take place.
Jack made an appearance as Major Ematt in both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but his primary job with the recent Star Wars film resurgence was as a dialogue coach. He helped many actors alter or completely discard their natural accents in order to play the characters we’ve all come to know and love in the Sequel Trilogy and spinoffs Rogue One and Solo.
Of course, Andrew Jack isn’t the only actor to become infected with COVID-19. Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson became ill with the virus while the Hanks was shooting a film in Australia, though both have recovered and returned to the US since, and Idris Elba also tested positive but claims to have never experienced any meaningful symptoms.
COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, jumping from 500,000 global cases about 5 days ago to over 800,000 today. Governments around the world have enforced various degrees of social and travel bans to help contain the virus and ease the impact it has on medical facilities that are low on supplies and space. Unfortunately, though, there appears to be a long road ahead of us all as the virus wreaks havoc with no signs of slowing down any time soon.