Earl Boen (/ˈboʊ.ən/; August 8, 1941 – January 5, 2023) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for portraying criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003).
Boen was also very active in the voice-over field, voicing characters such as Mr. Horace Bleakman in Clifford the Big Red Dog, Police Chief Kanifky in Bonkers, the narrator and King Terenas Menethil II in World of Warcraft, Señor Senior, Senior in Kim Possible, and LeChuck in the Monkey Island series.[1]
Earl Boen was born on August 8, 1941, in New York City.[2][3]
On television, some of Boen's early roles include The Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-O, The Jeffersons, Judge Barnes on What's Happening! and District Attorney Hepburn on Kojak. Boen played the Harper family's pastor, the Rev. Lloyd Meechum in a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom Mama's Family. He also appeared as a clergyman in episodes of The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, The Wonder Years, Boy Meets World, Seinfeld and Three's Company.[citation needed] He also appeared as Willie's boss in ALF, and as Patrick Morrison in the Matlock episode "The Cult".
Boen played Jim Petersen, Angela Bower's boss on the show Who's The Boss?. Boen had a recurring role as Dr. Kramer in the 1990s Fox series Get a Life. Boen appeared (alongside Tom Jones) in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1993 as a Princeton admissions agent. He also voiced the omnipotent alien Nagilum in a second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In film, Boen was well-known for playing criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Other films in which he appeared include The Main Event (1979), Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), 9 to 5 (1980), Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. (1981), The Man with Two Brains (1983), To Be or Not to Be (1983), Alien Nation (1988), Marked for Death (1990), Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994), and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000).
In 1987, came his first voice role as Taurus in the direct to video G.I. Joe: The Movie.[citation needed] He voiced the villainous pirate LeChuck from the Monkey Island series of adventure games. He also provided the introductions for World of Warcraft and its expansions, voiced Magtheridon in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade and King Terenas Menethil II in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, including the cinematic trailer and ending cutscene for that expansion, which featured the iconic line "no king rules forever, my son."
Boen voiced the dramatic thespian Edwin Blackgaard in Focus on the Family's "Adventures in Odyssey", as well as Edwin's nefarious twin brother Regis. He portrayed Sergei Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a role that he later reprised in the Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance rerelease and the official digital graphic novel. Other roles include Colossus in X-Men: Legends and a variety of characters across multiple Star Trek titles, including Bridge Commander and Armada II.
Boen's voice was heard on the Disneyland Railroad from 2002 until 2016 and on the Walt Disney World Railroad from 2002 until late 2010.
Boen retired from screen acting in 2003, but continued his work as a voice actor in radio, television cartoons and video games until 2017.
Boen married actress Carole Kean in 1970.[4] She died on April 23, 2001, from ovarian cancer at the age of 58.[4] Together they had a daughter.[4] Boen married his second wife, Cathy, in 2008.[2]
Boen was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall of 2022. He died in Hawaii on January 5, 2023, at the age of 81.[2]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)