Andrew Jack, Star Wars actor and dialect coach, dies of coronavirus

Dialect coach and actor Andrew Jack, who worked on a wide range of movies and appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, has died at 76 after testing positive for COVID-19.

Jack's agent said he died Tuesday at a hospital in England, where his wife could not be by his side amid the coronavirus pandemic, per CNN.

"Tragically she is stuck in quarantine in Australia, having just flown in from New Zealand last week," the agent said in a statement. "She was unable to see or talk to him at the end of his life and there is a chance a funeral may not be held." Jack's wife tweeted that he "was diagnosed with coronavirus 2 days ago" and that "he was in no pain, and he slipped away peacefully knowing that his family were all 'with' him."

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Jack worked as a dialect coach on dozens of films including Avengers: Endgame, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the recent Star Wars movies, and he had been working on the upcoming The Batman. He also played Resistance General Caluan Ematt in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and provided the voice of Moloch in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo paid tribute to Jack, tweeting that his work "revealed a man who was passionate and caring for both his work and those around him," while Elijah Wood called the news of his death "heartbreaking."

"He, along with Roisin Carty, lead all of us through the many accents of Middle-Earth," Wood tweeted Wednesday. "He was a kind and lovely human being. My love to his family and friends."