Doc Harris, the original English-language narrator of the Dragon Ball Z anime series, is dead. He was 76 years old.
Harris died Oct. 5 at Vancouver General Hospital after minor surgery, according to the Canadian trade publication Broadcast dialogue.
Born Gilbert Achinleck on August 3, 1948, Harris began working at Canadian radio stations before becoming a famous voice in the world of anime.
His first job as Gil Harris was with CKOM in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 1970. During the next three years, he moved between radio stations in Sudbury, Hamilton and Toronto in Ontario as Doc Holliday.
He then landed at Vancouver station CKLG in 1973 as disc jockey Doc Harris. For the next quarter century, Harris had a successful radio career at Vancouver stations such as CFMI-FM, CKKS (KISS FM), CKST and news station CKNW, as well as CFUN, CKNW and CISL.
But the world of anime is paying homage to Harris, who as a voice actor served as the English-language narrator Dragon Ball Zthe martial arts-heavy series and franchise that gave the world characters like Goku, Piccolo, Bulma, and Krillin. Dragon Ball was adapted into a popular anime series by Toei Animation.
THE Dragon Ball Z animated series launched in 1989 and ran until 1996. Harris has also narrated other anime series such as Monster Rancher, Eat-Man '98, Sister Blue and the Defenders of the Aegis video game.
In 2019, Harris voiced the role of Grogar for five episodes of the TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magicwhich also had Tara Strong and Ashleigh Ball in the voice cast.