TMNT writer-director Kevin Munroe announced on Thursday at the San Diego Comic-Con that Asian-American actor Mako was going to voice Splinter in the CG animated film. Now, by a very sad coincidence it is being reported that Mako died a day later, on Friday.
Japanese-American actor Mako, who was Oscar-nominated for his supporting role in “The Sand Pebbles” and who co-founded the nation’s first Asian-American theater company, died Friday of esophageal cancer at his home in Somis. He was 72.
In an acting career spanning more than four decades, Mako appeared in TV series including “MASH,” “I Spy,” “Quincy” and “Frasier,” as well as films ranging from “Conan the Barbarian” to “Seven Years in Tibet,” “Pearl Harbor” and last year’s “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
He also voiced characters in animated series including “Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Samurai Jack” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
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Source: Variety
