Voice of Speed Racer passes away

7:00 AM on 07.17.2010   |   Bob Muir

Peter Fernandez, the voice of the titular character in the anime classic Speed Racer, passed away this past Thursday morning at the age of 83 due to lung cancer. Even though most of you readers probably don't know his name, you are probably familiar with many of the shows he worked on. Fernandez was one of the prominent creative forces behind bringing numerous series from the 60s and 70s over to the US, back before we even knew that they were called anime and were different from American cartoons.

Fernandez was not only the voice of Speed Racer, but also voiced Racer X, several other characters, served as the show's voice director, and wrote the lyrics to the American theme song that replaced the original song from Tatsunoko's Mach Go Go Go. He was also a voice actor and voice director for anime like Astro Boy, Gigantor, Marine Boy, Star Blazers, and Superbook. Fernandez also had a cameo role in the 2008 live-action Speed Racer film.

If not for the success of shows like Speed Racer, anime might not have taken off like it eventually did. Thank you, Peter Fernandez, for your contribution to our fandom.

[ANN via Topless Robot - thanks, Joseph Pollardy]

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