Original Crash Bandicoot Actor Brendan O'Brien Has Died

Brendan O'Brien, the original voice actor for Crash Bandicoot, has died at the age of 60. O'Brien was brought in to provide voices for both Crash and villain Dr. Neo Cortex on the original Crash Bandicoot, which released in 1996 for the PlayStation. O'Brien would stick with the role throughout the Naughty Dog era, which came to an end in 2004. Despite that association coming to an end 19 years ago, O'Brien remembered his time with the character quite fondly, and his obituary mentions how much the role meant to him.

"One of his proudest moments was coming up with the original voices for the "Crash Bandicoot" video games during the Naughty Dog years of 1996 to 2004. He encouraged nostalgic Crash fans in their own pursuits and loved signing their memorabilia. Like music, designing character voices for animation, radio and video games came naturally to him," the obituary reads.

Following the first Crash Bandicoot game, O'Brien would reprise the role in several other games, including Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Crash Team Racing, and Crash Bash. He would voice Crash for the final time in 2001's Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, though archival footage of his voice could be heard in multiple subsequent games released for the Game Boy Advance. On Twitter, the official Crash Bandicoot account paid tribute to the actor.

"Sharing our sincere condolences to Brendan O'Brien's loved ones for his passing. He was an incredible talent who brought Crash Bandicoot and other Crash characters to life. He will forever live on in the hearts of Crash fans," the account writes.

While Crash Bandicoot is the voice O'Brien is perhaps best known for, his voice work can also be heard in HBO's Spawn animated series, where he provided "additional voices." It was while working on Spawn that O'Brien first heard that Naughty Dog was looking to hire a voice actor for the game. In addition to voicing Crash and Dr. Neo Cortex, O'Brien would voice several other characters in the series, including Tiny Tiger, Doctor N. Gin, and more.