The Game of Thrones community lost a truly monumental figure on Monday. Roy Dotrice, who played Hallyne the Pyromancer in season 2 and narrated the A Song of Fire and Ice audiobook series, died in his London home at 94, Variety reports.
Throughout his career in entertainment, Dotrice won a Tony for his work on the play A Moon for the Misbegotten, starred in the 1984 film Amadeus, performed his one-man show Brief Lives a total of 1,782 times (a feat that briefly landed him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records), and was a trained Shakespearean actor. But perhaps his greatest accomplishment in the industry was bringing George R.R. Martin's beloved series to life.
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According to Variety, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Dotrice in 2004 for voicing the most characters (224, to be exact) by an individual while narrating A Game of Thrones, the first audiobook and novel in the series. As if that weren't impressive enough, that particular audiobook is 33-hours long.
RIP Roy Dotrice pic.twitter.com/WwbqQYLMUx
— Radio Westeros (@RadioWesteros) October 16, 2017
Before entering the arts, Dotrice joined the Royal Air Force during WWII as both a radio operator and gunner in a bomber, The New York Times reports. In 1942, Dotrice was taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans, where he reportedly helped keep the others with him entertained through small plays.
Despite the grave adversity he faced during the war, Dotrice found a way to make people smile. It's with that same passion and love for his craft that the actor was able to pull listeners into A Song of Fire and Ice, captivating their attention and making Martin's fantasy world easily accessible for anyone with a stereo.
Though Dotrice likely wasn't going to make another appearance in GOT, his voice will be sorely missed when Martin finally releases the series' next installment, The Winds of Winter. Whoever lends their voice next will have some incredibly large shoes to fill.
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