Tony Todd, the voice of Half-Life 2: Episode 2's vortigaunts and Spider-Man 2's Venom, has died

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(Image credit: Getty Images/Gabe Ginsberg)

Actor Tony Todd died at home in Los Angeles on November 6 at the age of 69, Deadline reports. No cause of death was given.

Todd featured in movies like Oliver Stone's Platoon and several popular horror series, appearing in Night of the Living Dead (1990), Wishmaster, and The Crow (1994) as well as playing Candyman in the Candyman movies and William Bloodworth in the Final Destination series. He also made a string of television appearances in shows like The X-Files and both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Todd's career in videogames began with an appearance as Commander Kurn, the role he'd originated on television, in 1998's Star Trek: The Next Generation – Klingon Honor Guard. He went on to voice the alien vortigaunts in Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and later Half-Life: Alyx, Admiral Tommy Briggs in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Venom in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. He also appeared in Layers of Fear 2, Artifact, Star Trek Online, Star Trek: Elite Force 2, Back 4 Blood, and Dota: Underlords, as well as portraying a character named Locus in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is due out next year.

Bloober Team, the developer of Layers of Fear 2, memorialized Todd by writing, "We mourn the loss of Tony Todd, the voice that drew us into the shadows of Layers of Fear 2. Rest now, Tony – you are forever entwined with the darkness we braved to face." He was also remembered by Insomniac, who wrote, "Insomniac Games is heartbroken by the passing of our friend Tony Todd. He brought so much joy to our studio during the production of Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and to many fans around the world with his inimitable voice and presence."

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Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.