Christopher Ayres, Voice Actor Who Played Dragon Ball's Frieza, Dies at 56

Christopher Ayres, the voice actor who played Frieza in Dragon Ball Z Kai, has sadly died at the age of 56.

He voiced the character for 10 years between 2009 to 2019 and also appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

In 2017, he was diagnosed with end-stage COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and needed a double lung transplant to continue living.

He started an online fundraiser to get $25,000 for his treatment.

Ayres' death was confirmed by his girlfriend and fellow voice actor Krystal LaPorte.

"On October 18th at 8:40pm, my world went dark," a statement read on her Twitter account. "Christopher Owen Ayres passed away peacefully, held close by his mother, brother, and girlfriend, and his arm wrapped around his Atticus pillow.

"He was able to pet the real thing hours beforehand. His hands were held. His face was kissed. We played Jim Croce, The Charlie Chaplin musical, and one hand stayed on my waist as I held the other while Unchained Melody played, the song we knew would be the first dance at our wedding.

"His mother and brother told stories of his childhood as he left. I have never been alive in a world where Chris wasn't. I am scared of it. So much of humanity's kindness, compassion, gentleness, bravery, generosity and integrity were concentrated in one man. Everything feels so much colder.

"Chris loved you all. How much he loved other people filled the vast majority of our conversations.

"To those of you who truly loved him back, thank you. To those of you who stayed in touch, checked on him, reminded him that he was so, so much more than his job, you were the fuel of his fight. You fed the dreams of a future that kept him going longer than any normal person could go."

Krystal explained how she 'cannot even begin to comprehend that I will never walk in a doorway again and hear "Hey, beautiful girl."'

She said she will try to live her life by the way that Chris saw in her and 'be what the world saw in you'.

The voice actor left a final message to fans, saying: "I know a lot of people reading this will ask 'is there anything I can do?' Please be more like Chris.

"Please, if you learned anything from him, put it in this world. It needs him. Please fill it with love and laughter, always."

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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