Actor Tom Kane, who provided the voice of Yoda and a host of other characters throughout various Star Wars media, has suffered a stroke that may leave him unable to continue his work in voiceovers.
Kane's family shared his unfortunate news in a social media post, according to Comicbook.com. Although his condition is currently stable and he is "very much himself," it is not yet known if he will regain enough speaking function to return to voice acting.
The full post from Kane's daughter is below:
Hi everyone! This is Tom’s daughter, Sam. Our family wanted to share why my dad has been MIA. About two months ago he had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech center of his brain. This means right now he cannot efficiently communicate verbally, nor read or spell. He is still competent and very much himself, but can only get out a few words right now. As many of you might know about strokes, it is possible for him to gain these functions back and we have found him excellent care in Kansas City for speech, occupational, and physical therapy, but for now, we have been warned by his Neurologist that he may not do Voiceovers again.
In addition to his work in Star Wars shows, films, and games, Kane had roles in many other franchises, contributing his voice to cartoons such as The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, The Wild Thornberrys and Kim Possible, as well as video games including Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Call of Duty. He played Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and returned to the role for several other productions, and was also known as a recurring voice for Admiral Ackbar.
Source: Comicbook.com