James Carter Cathcart, Voice of Pokémon's Professor Oak, Retires After Cancer Diagnosis

TV & Film

Apr 21

James Carter Cathcart, the voice of Gary Oak in the Pokémon anime since the beginning and the voice of Professor Oak, James, and Meowth since 2006, has chosen to retire due to his ongoing battle with cancer. In a statement made by the voice actor’s wife, Cathcart is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments for an advanced form of throat cancer that has spread to his neck and his tongue. The full statement is as follows:

”Jimmy has decided to retire from script adapting and voice dubbing for Pokémon USA, effective after Season 25. He has been with the series since the 1st episode, so it is a timely decision as the series transitions to new characters and story lines.”

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Cathcart, credited sometimes as Jimmy Zoppi or Billy Beach, has been with the anime since 1998, beginning with voicing the grandson of Professor Oak, Gary. In 2006, the anime switched from being dubbed by 4kids Entertainment to being produced in-house by Pokémon USA (known now as The Pokémon Company International). The decision was met with an immense amount of criticism from the fanbase at the time, and Cathcart was among the few that stayed from the 4kids team, keeping his role of Gary Oak and gaining Professor Oak, James, and Meowth in addition to becoming the ADR scriptwriter. Outside of Pokémon, his other famous roles include Weevil Underwood in Yu-Gi-Oh and Vector the Crocodile in Sonic X and in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games from 2004-2006. Our hearts go out to Cathcart during this difficult time.

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