George Lowe, the voice actor and comedian best known for his work as Space Ghost on the cult favorite series Space Ghost Coast to Coast, has died. He was 67.
A rep for Lowe confirmed his death to Rolling Stone. A cause of death has not been released yet.
Lowe’s friend, the radio host “Marvelous Marvin” Boone, said Lowe died after a “long illness.” Boone added, “He was a supremely talented Artist and Voice actor. A true warm hearted Genius. Funniest man on Earth too. I’ve stolen jokes from him for decades. He stole some of mine” (via Deadline).
Lowe began his career in radio before slowly moving into voice acting during the Eighties and Nineties. He landed the role of Space Ghost in 1994, taking a Sixties-era Hanna-Barbera cartoon and reviving him as the host of a late-night talk show on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The show premiered on Cartoon Network but was very much a template for the adult-oriented programming that would come to define CN’s after-dark affiliate, Adult Swim, when it debuted the following year.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast offered a novel take on the classic talk show format with its mix of live-action and animation. The interviews between Space Ghost and his very real celebrity guests were often chopped up and edited in irreverent ways, like when Space Ghost got Michael Stipe to “say” of R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People,” “I hate that song, Space Ghost” (to which Space Ghost solemnly replies, “Oh, me too, Michael, me too”).
When the show began, Lowe admitted he often found himself trying to imitate the original voice of Space Ghost, Gary Owens, before eventually finding his own take on the character. While much of the show was scripted, Lowe was also allowed to ad-lib, which further helped solidify the show’s off-kilter, edgy sense of humor.
“We’d do everything that now would get us place sanctioned, outlawed and moved to Sri Lanka,” Lowe told Under the Radar in 2020. “It’s almost like people embraced all the naughty stuff that you’re not supposed to do. So, we got away with an awful lot.”
Space Ghost Coast to Coast ran for 11 seasons, with the final episodes airing in 2008. Lowe also voiced Space Ghost — and other characters — on spin-off shows like Cartoon Planet and The Brak Show, as well as other Adult Swim favorites like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken. He reprised his role as Space Ghost most recently in a 2024 episode of Jellystone.
During his career, Lowe also lent his voice to shows like Celebrity Deathmatch, Squidbillies, and American Dad!, as well as numerous video games, commercials, and TV and radio stations.
