Actor James Avery died 31 December 2013. Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on 27 November 1948, he will be best remembered for playing Uncle Philip Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990-96). After graduating from high school, he served in the US Navy in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, and then moved to San Diego, California, where he wrote tv scripts and poetry for PBS. He then attended the University of California at San Diego, and earned a BA in Drama and Literature.

His first film appearance was an uncredited role in The Blues Brothers (1980). On television, in addition to The Fresh Prince, he did a lot of voice-over work for animation. Some of his bigger roles include Turbo in 65 episodes of Rambo (1986), Shredder in more than 100 episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-93), Sir Bryant in 65 episodes of The Legend of Prince Valiant (1991-94), Haroud Hazi Bin in 11 episodes of Aladdin (1994), and War Machine in 10 episodes of Iron Man (1994).  His other genre roles include: Danika (2006), two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (2005), Charmed (2004), Epoch (2001), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), The Advanced Guard (1998), two episodes of Spider-Man (1996), Gargoyles (1996), Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991), Nightflyers (1987), Timestalkers (1987), Condor (1986), and Appointment with Fear (1985).

He is survived by his wife of 25 years.