Andrew Jack, who appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its sequel, The Last Jedi, has died at the age of 76 due to complications from COVID-19. In addition to acting, Jack was a dialect and vocal coach who worked on numerous high-profile films, including Guardians Of The Galaxy and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Jack’s passing was reported by CNN, which obtained a statement from his agent, Jill McCullough. “Andrew lived on one of the oldest working houseboats on the Thames, he was fiercely independent but madly in love with his wife, also a dialect coach, Gabrielle Rogers,” said McCullough. “Tragically she is stuck in quarantine in Australia, having just flown in from New Zealand last week. She was unable to see or talk to him at the end of his life and there is a chance a funeral may not be held.”
At the time of his passing, Jack was working as a dialect coach on The Batman, Matt Reeves’ highly-anticipated new film starring Robert Pattinson as the eponymous superhero. “Dialect coaching isn’t just about being good at accents — you need to make your actors feel safe and confident — and Andrew’s actors adored him,” said McCullough. Jack appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as Major Ematt, and reprised his role—with his character promoted to General—in The Last Jedi. He was also a dialect coach for Solo: A Star Wars Story, and voiced a character named Moloch. Solo producer Chris Miller and Lord Of The Rings star Sean Astin were among those who shared tributes to Jack on Twitter: