George Lowe, voice actor known and beloved for his irreverent Space Ghost, dies at 67
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George Lowe, the voice actor best known for the long-running cult-favorite Cartoon Network and Adult Swim series “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” died Sunday at age 67, a representative confirmed Tuesday.
The representative said a statement from the family would be forthcoming. No cause of death was given, though friend and radio host “Marvelous Marvin” Boone wrote Tuesday on social media that Lowe had died after “a long illness.”
“I’m beyond devastated,” he said on Facebook. “My Zobanian brother and best friend for over 40 years, George Lowe, has passed away after a long illness. A part of me had also died. 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. He was also the voice of Space Ghost and so much more.”
Casper Kelly, the writer-producer-director behind Adult Swim’s “Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell,” remembered Lowe on X, writing, “Wonderfully kind and funny man. Brilliant improvisor. Art collector. Raconteur. Space Ghost was genius and helped usher in a new wave of oddball tv.”
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Voice-over actor Billy West said Tuesday on X that Lowe “was mighty and one of the best of the best VOs ever. Very generous of spirit and very kind… and funny funny funny. He will be missed.”
“My heart is broken. George Lowe was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known and one of the nicest people to ever exist. You will be missed more than you know my friend. RIP,” Tim Frasier, an executive producer at iHeartRadio subsidiary Premiere Networks, said Tuesday on Facebook.
“Incredibly heartbroken to learn that long time broadcasting buddy George Lowe (Official) has passed away,” radio host and voice-over artist Roy Hersey said, also on Facebook. “One of the most creative and funniest people I’ve ever known. We worked together at Power 99 in Atlanta before he became the voice of #spaceghostcoasttocoast on the Cartoon Network. ... I visited with him just recently at his home in Lakeland, Florida. So glad I got to see him one last time. If there is a heaven, he’s got ’em in [stitches].”
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Lowe was born Nov. 10, 1957, in Dunedin, Fla., and worked in radio before moving to voice acting in the 1990s. He was also a visual artist and art collector, according to the American Visionary Art Museum, ultimately amassing hundreds of works including Pop Art prints by Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and others.
Space Ghost, who originated in the 1960s on CBS (courtesy of Hanna-Barbera Productions), evolved in the 1990s from a serious fighter of outer-space supervillains into an irreverent talk-show host on a show that mixed animation and live-action.
“Space Ghost Coast to Coast” was billed as the first late-night show to feature a cartoon superhero as its host, and during its run from 1994 to 1999 and off and on until 2012, it welcomed guests including Björk, Adam Carolla, Conan O’Brien, Bob Costas and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., to name a few. The guests were filmed live and inserted into the animated show.
On the premiere, diet guru Susan Powter, comic Kevin Meaney and the Bee Gees were Space Ghost’s guests, accompanied by his TV band — led by former archenemies Moltar and Zorak.
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Lowe took over the Space Ghost gig from “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” announcer Gary Owens, who voiced the superhero during his early, more serious stints in the 1960s and 1980s. Owens, who died in 2015, made a cameo appearance as Space Ghost replicant “Gary” in a Season 5 episode of “Coast to Coast.” In the episode, Lowe’s Space Ghost destroyed Owens’ replicant.
“The great thing about Space Ghost is that he’ll be returning at a time when heroes like X-Men and Batman are especially popular,” former Cartoon Network executive Mike Lazzo told The Times in 1994. “Here we have a hero working with his former enemies and there’s a completely loopy, nutty spin, making something for both kids and their parents.”
Lowe voiced numerous roles on Adult Swim shows including “Robot Chicken,” “The Brak Show” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” and in 2024 voiced Space Ghost in the Season 3 “Space Con” episode of “Jellystone!” The voice actor spent time in recent years meeting fans at various Comic-Cons and similar gatherings.
Art by Lowe is hung at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Georgia Museum in Athens, Ga., the Polk Museum in Lakeland, Fla., and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, according to the latter museum’s website.
Former Times staff writer N.F. Mendoza contributed to this post.
