Fairy Tail Narrator, Actor Bob Magruder Passes Away

Actor Robert “Bob” Olin Magruder passed away on January 2 at the age of 82 after a brief illness. The Korean War veteran served as an officer in the Navy and wrote for Armed Forces Radio before entering the world of radio and broadcast, and eventually freelance voice acting.

A Houston-native, Magruder may be best known for narratingFunimation‘s English-dub release of Fairy Tail. Dub director Tyler Walker wrote the following in response to Magruder’s passing:

Bob was a great guy and an outstanding VO talent. I had the pleasure of working with him over the last few years, late into his career, and always found him to be cordial and professional, as well as candid and funny. Most of his work for me was as the narrator for almost two hundred episodes of a long running show. As soon as I heard him speak my ears came to attention, “That’s the one!” I thought. “That’s the voice of the show!” To my surprise, he not only gave voice to the kindly, grandfatherly narrator, but also the massive, fire-breathing, King of the Dragons, Igneel.He had been in the business longer than I’ve been alive, but he truly listened to direction and always gave back a better performance; giving me exactly what I wanted, but doing it in a way that only he could. He could take a line that was as simple as providing the name to a location, or some other small piece of information, and imbue it with personality and emotion. He was truly one of the greats. We will miss him dearly at Funimation.

Rest in peace, Bob.

Magruder also voiced Pope Matthai Reese in A Certain Magical Index II, Master Hawkeye inFullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Captain Moore in One Piece, and Uncle Doi in Wolf Children. He appeared in the original Dallas television show and was the announcer in the television seriesCheaters.

Thanks to SpacemanHardy, Geoffrey Oliver for the news tip