On December 21st, 2017, Jim French passed away at age 89. French was a radio personality, producer, and voice actor.
French is perhaps best known for voicing one of the four playable survivors in Left 4 Dead. In the game, French voiced William ‘Bill’ Overbeck, the Vietnam veteran who carries an Assault Rifle and almost always has a lit cigarette in his mouth.
French reprised his role as Bill in Overkill’s Payday: The Heist, appearing in the No Mercy Hospital DLC.
Left 4 Dead isn’t the only game to have French’s voice immortalized in it. French’s voice can be found in a number of Valve games, like Half-Life 2 as Father Grigori, in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast as The Fisherman, and as The Elder Titan in Dota 2.
As far as French’s radio endeavors go, he had written and produced nearly 1,000 radio shows throughout his life, including The Adventures of Harry Nile and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series (Imagination Theater). He began his radio career in 1959.
Our condolences go out to Jim French’s family. He will be remembered.
