Erik Bauersfeld, the voice actor who played fan favorite Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar in Return Of The Jedi and again in Star Wars: The Force Awakens has passed away at 93, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The voice actor and radio drama producer passed in his home in Berkeley California on Sunday morning.
Famous for his delivery of the line ‘it’s a trap!” when Darth Vader and The Empire spring a trap on the unsuspecting Rebel Alliance as they attack the rebuilt Death Star, the character became a meme online, as well as the subject of many fan-made videos such as these hilarious ads that we’ve shared with you before.
Still, according to the man himself, it all happened very much by chance, with Bauersfeld writing on the website of his non-profit organisation Bay Area Radio Drama that “the voice work I did in movies was accidental,” before giving us the full story.
“I was working with Randy Thom on radio dramas at his technical quarters at Lucasfilm. One day Ben Burtt, sound designer for Star Wars, came by and asked if I would audition for a voice in the movie.”
Going on to complete the role with no direction in under an hour, Bauersfeld nevertheless went on to receive fan mail weekly from fans asking for autographs and praising him for his performance. “The fans who write say they’ll never forget ‘It’s a trap!’ I don’t even remember how I said it,” Bauersfeld told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2011.
Also voicing Jabba the Hutt’s sidekick Bib Fortuna in the same film, Bauersfeld joined fellow returning original cast members Harrison Ford, Carrie Fischer and Mark Hamill in the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens last year much to the joy of die-hard fans the world over.
