Actor Tony Pankhurst Has Died

Tony Pankhurst, the actor who was the face of The Curator in Supermassive Games’ The Dark Pictures Anthology, has died. Pankhurst passed away on Thursday, May 9 at the age of 67, his family announced on a tribute page. A cause of death was not disclosed.

“This site is a tribute to our dad, Tony Pankhurst, who sadly passed away on Thursday 9th May 2024 at the age of 67,” the family announced. “He is much loved and will always be remembered.”

Pankhurst was best known among video game fans as the face of The Curator, an omniscient and mysterious narrator, in each entry of The Dark Pictures Anthology, the anthology series of interactive drama and survival horror video games developed by Supermassive Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. While Pankhurst was the face of the character, the character’s voice and motion-capture being done by actor Pip Torrens, though he did portray The Curator in the live-action launch trailer for House of Ashes.

Pankhurst began appearing in the role with 2019’s Man of Medan, and went on to appear in all four installments of the game’s first season – Man of Medan, 2020’s Little Hope, 2021’s House of Ashes, and 2022’s The Devil In Me. The Dark Pictures Anthology is currently planned to consist of eight games, with the first entry of Season 2, Directive 8020, currently in development.

“We are all saddened to hear of Tony Pankhurst’s passing. He was the face of The Curator, and we loved working with him,” Supermassive Games said in tribute of the actor on social media.

Outside of his work in the anthology video game series, Pankhurst had numerous other acting credits to his name, including several appearances throughout the Star Wars franchise. He served as a stand-in for Harrison Ford in 2015’sStar Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and as a Military General in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, per his IMDb profile. He also had an uncredited appearance in the Wizarding Wrold franchise when he starred as Lt. Col. J. Cornell in 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. His other credits include Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Commuter, the TV movie The Child in Time, and the series Humans.

Pankhurst was laid to rest on Friday, June 7. His family asked that donations be made to Hospice in the Weald, “who provided such love and support to dad in his final weeks.”