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Erik Bauersfeld, the voice actor who shouted Admiral Ackbar’s now-iconic too-late warning in Return of the Jedi has died at 93, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
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Bauersfeld was to the fish-faced admiral what James Earl Jones was to Darth—he lent his voice to the character while another actor (in this case, puppeteer Tim Rose) handled the physical body.
The character of Admiral Ackbar was a bit part—we don’t know anything about him other than his rank—but Bauersfeld’s delivery of the line “It’s a trap!” turned Ackbar into a fan favorite and launched an endless stream of memes. (Later on, like all things Star Wars, Ackbar was given a backstory and a place in an ever-expanding expanded universe.)
Bauresfeld also voiced Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt’s flesh-scarfed lackey, in Jedi, and later reprised his role as Ackbar for the video game Star Wars: X-Wing, and The Force Awakens, but spent his life working primarily as a radio dramatist.
He passed away at his home in Berkeley, California, Sunday morning.
