Lord Of The Rings Actors Pay Tribute To Dialect Coach After His Passing

Movie dialect coach Andrew Jack, who worked on The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars franchises among many others over a career that spanned decades, has passed away due to complications related to COVID-19. He was 76.

In response to his passing, tributes have poured in from across Hollywood, including the stars of the Lord of the Rings films. For Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies specifically, Jack was the senior supervising dialect coach, according to The One Ring. He helped the actors with their accents for Middle-earth.

Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in the series, said he was heartbroken to learn of Jack's passing. "He was a kind and lovely human being," Wood said.

Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in the series, said Jack was a "beautiful soul," adding that he had "so many wonderful memories with this amazing man." Kiran Shah, who was the stand-in for Frodo in the Lord of the Rings series, says Jack was a good friend. "Will miss him," he said.

Sean Astin, who played Sam in the trilogy, released a poem about Jack in which he called the man funny, brilliant, and gentle. "We loved Andrew Jack," Astin said.

Karl Urban, who played Eomer, said he was "shocked and deeply saddened" to learn about Jack's passing. Urban first met Jack on Lord of the Rings, and he was recently working with him again for season two of Amazon's The Boys. "Andrew was such a gentle giant and a man who possessed such great generosity of spirit," Urban said. "He was extraordinarily talented, professional, and an absolute joy to work with. My heart thoughts and prayers go out to his family."

In addition to Lord of the Rings, Jack contributed to numerous other projects, including Solo: A Star Wars Story. Original co-director Christopher Miller said Jack was a "kind and thoughtful man." Jack taught Han Solo actor Alden Ehrenreich to speak Shyriiwook, the language of Wookies. "I'll always remember listening to them gargle-roar at each other back and forth. RIP," Miller said.

Jack's contributions in Hollywood are extensive and date back decades. Recently, he helped Chris Hemsworth with his Thor accent for Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War. Jack also coached John Boyega for his American accent in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. On top of that, Jack helped Viggo Mortensen with his Russian accent for Eastern Promises, a role that earned Mortensen the first of his three Academy Award nominations. You can see a full rundown of Jack's credits here.

In addition to his career as a voice coach, Jack was an actor. He played General Ematt in The Last Jedi and he voiced Moloch in Solo.

Tributes For Andrew Jack: