Rick May, Voice of Peppy Hare in Star Fox 64, Dies of Coronavirus

“Do a barrel roll!” is one of the most iconic lines in all of video games. To this day, typing the phrase into the Google search bar will cause the results page to spin in a corkscrew. The line likely wouldn’t have had even a modicum of the impact that it did were it not for the vocal stylings of voice actor Rick May. He brought to life both Peppy Hare and Andross in Star Fox 64 and turned “do a barrel roll!” into a household term for many a gamer.

Sadly, Rick May has passed away at the age of 79 due to complications from the COVID-19 coronavirus. May had suffered a stroke in February and was in a nursing home recovering. While in the facility he contracted COVID-19 and died after being transferred to the hospital. While his most famous line came from Star Fox 64, May’s acting credits include a litany of famous roles, including parts in Team Fortress 2, Age of Empires 2, Sly 2: Honor Among Thieves and SOCOM II.

Maye was also an instructor at Rekindle School, an independent educational program located in Seattle, Washington that offers “affordable classes in the arts, in subjects including drawing, painting, cartooning, writing, filmmaking and other subjects.” Rekindle alerted the world to May’s passing and has set up an email address for those who would like to get in touch and offer their condolences to his family. Nintendojo’s thoughts are with May’s friends and family at this time.

Source: Rekindle School website