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George Lowe, the actor who voiced the superhero-turned-talk-show-host Space Ghost on \u201cSpace Ghost: Coast to Coast\u201d on the Cartoon Network for nearly two decades, died on Sunday in Lakeland, Fla. He was 67.<\/p>\n
His agent, Christy Clark, confirmed the death. His family said in a statement that Mr. Lowe had a challenging recovery after undergoing elective heart surgery in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace Ghost: Coast to Coast\u201d was the first fully original program for Cartoon Network and the spark that led to the creation of Adult Swim<\/a>, the network\u2019s late-night programming block. The show, which ran for 11 seasons from 1994 until 2012, reimagined Space Ghost, the title character from a 1960s Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoon, as a temperamental talk show host, in a new format that mixed animation and live action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thanks to an enviable lineup of guests \u2014 Weird Al Yankovic, Beck and Sarah Jessica Parker were among the celebrities who made appearances \u2014 and decidedly off-the-wall interview questions (\u201cAre you getting enough oxygen?\u201d Space Ghost once asked Hulk Hogan), the show became a cult favorite among teenagers and young adults, helping launch Adult Swim into the stratosphere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the heart of it all was Mr. Lowe. Dave Willis, a writer and producer on the show, said Mr. Lowe had a \u201cbig, booming movie-trailer voice\u201d and approached the role like the morning drive-time D.J. he had been before he got into voice work. His relatable and highly entertaining kvetching, Mr. Willis said, helped shape Space Ghost\u2019s new persona.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would just turn on the mic the second he entered the room,\u201d Mr. Willis said. \u201cOver time, the character took on certain aspects of George in a way that really made the show work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Produced on a minimal budget, the show featured interviews with celebrity guests, which were conducted over speaker phone. The guests would hear the questions through an earpiece<\/a> as they were videotaped in whatever Turner-controlled television studio could be found \u2014 or, in one case, Willie Nelson\u2019s tour bus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Their images would then be superimposed on an animated television monitor beside Space Ghost\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n Space Ghost\u2019s dialogue was written and recorded after the interviews were conducted, meaning that \u2014 by design \u2014 the answers did not always exactly match the questions, to humorous effect. (\u201cAny advice for us?\u201d Space Ghost once asked his fellow talk-show host Joe Franklin. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be important, but more important to be nice,\u201d Mr. Franklin said. \u201cGive us something we can use,\u201d Space Ghost replied.)<\/p>\n Some guests were confused by the unconventional questions, while others played along. (After Paul Westerberg, the former lead singer and guitarist for the Replacements, who had never seen the show, walked out, Mr. Willis told The New York Times in 2021<\/a>, they began asking guests to sign a waiver before they were interviewed.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n George Lowe was born in Dunedin, Fla., on Nov. 10, 1957. He moved to Atlanta in the late 1980s and joined the \u201cBreakfast Club\u201d morning show on Power 99, a Top 40 station, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported<\/a>. He went on to do voice-over work for 99X, the alternative rock station that replaced Power 99, and also lent his voice to hundreds of radio commercials and television promos, The Journal-Constitution reported.<\/p>\n Information about his survivors was not immediately available.<\/p>\n Mr. Lowe loved creating abstract art, Mr. Willis said \u2014 several of his drawings are in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta<\/a> \u2014 and collecting prints by Pop artists including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and James Rosenquist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Over a career that lasted more than three decades, Mr. Lowe supplied the voices for a number of characters on other Adult Swim shows, including \u201cRobot Chicken,\u201d \u201cThe Brak Show,\u201d \u201cSquidbillies,\u201d \u201cSealab 2021\u201d and \u201cAqua Teen Hunger Force.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mr. Lowe was most closely associated with Space Ghost, and was known to dress in full costume to promote the talk show<\/a>. He voiced the character until the series finale in 2012, and he reprised the role last year in a \u201cSpace Con\u201d episode<\/a> of the Max animated series \u201cJellystone!\u201d<\/p>\n