Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will feature plenty of returning characters to go alongside new faces. One of those characters will be Captain Qwark. Unfortunately the character won’t be voiced by long-standing actor Jim Ward as he has fallen ill with Alzheimers and a particularly bad case of Covid.
Jim’s long career has seen him voice Ratchet and Clank’s one-time enemy and now supporting superhero, Copernicus Leslie Qwark, throughout the entire franchise, as well as a range of other minor characters. His credits also include many other games and films such as Destroy All Humans!, Dragon Age II, Grim Fandango, Killer7, Resident Evil, Despicable Me, and Toy Story. His illness has now left the 61-year-old actor unable to work—his wife Janice explained the awful toll it has had:
Dear Friends, family, and fans of the greatest voice over actor ever, (my biased opinion) Jim Ward, loved by thousands.
Jim made people spew coffee at unexpected moments and people pulled over to the side of the road cuz they couldn’t stop laughing. Many of you have wondered where our voice deity went. Well, he got sick. At first it was mild cognitive memory issue. Once he arrived at Silverado Beverly Place Memory Care, all was well but two weeks later he got the worst case of COVID imaginable. (He almost died numerous times). He was completely paralyzed and hospitalized for four months where he learned to eat again, walk again, etc. Jim’s now back at Silverado. Not close to how he was when he got COVID. It really set him back. But, the amazing thing about Alzheimers is part of the brain still functions normally. The other part – well, he has no memory, not from a year ago, a day ago, 10 minutes ago, 2 seconds ago. But he still plays harmonica, guitar, does voices and sings. He still knows who I am. They take such great care of him at Silverado. They love him. So do I.
It costs almost $9000/month for his care at Silverado. And, he had over a million dollars in medical expenses at Cedars and CRI. Thankfully, his SAG/AFTRA insurance paid most of it. But we are way in debt for approx $50,000 for medical and caregivers expenses not paid by insurance. If you can contribute in any way to help my paypal is blendedarts@aol.com. All proceeds will go to Jims care. Thank you so much. My heart is broken. Much love to you all, Janice (aka Janiqua).
What a wonderful ride.
PlayStation LifeStyle wishes the best to Jim and his family.
[Source: Facebook via ResetEra]
