BO1 Zombies Characters and Voice Actors: Original Crew, Five and Call of the Dead

Original Zombies crew: Ultimis names and voice actors

Takeo is voiced by Tom Kane. The BO1 versions of all four World at War maps use Ultimis, even where the World at War original used other Marines. Only one independent source, the Wiki, was found for that precise cast substitution on each remake.

On Call of the Dead, Ultimis are trapped behind a door and are not the playable team; rescuing them is the main quest. On Moon, Samantha occupies Richtofen’s body after the soul exchange, creating another playable identity; only one independent source, the Wiki, was found for this detail.

Voice credits are corroborated by the character Wiki pages and the actors’ Wikipedia performance lists. Only one independent source was found for the detailed ranks and backgrounds: the Call of Duty Wiki.
Character	Identity	BO1 voice actor	Playable BO1 maps
“Tank” Dempsey	American US Marine corporal	Steve Blum	Kino der Toten, Ascension, Shangri-La, Moon; BO1 versions of Nacht der Untoten, Verrückt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese
Nikolai Belinski	Former Soviet Red Army sergeant	Fred Tatasciore	Kino der Toten, Ascension, Shangri-La, Moon; BO1 versions of Nacht der Untoten, Verrückt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese
Takeo Masaki	Former Imperial Japanese Army captain from a samurai family	Tom Kane	Kino der Toten, Ascension, Shangri-La, Moon; BO1 versions of Nacht der Untoten, Verrückt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese
Edward Richtofen	German scientist, Group 935 member and the crew’s leader	Nolan North	Kino der Toten, Ascension, Shangri-La, Moon; BO1 versions of Nacht der Untoten, Verrückt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese

Five Zombies characters and their voice actors

“Five” takes place in the Pentagon. Its four political figures become the playable team during a zombie attack; they are fictional game portrayals.

These credits are specifically for Zombies. In the campaign, Kennedy is Chriss Anglin and Castro is Gustavo Rex. Only one independent source was found for the campaign Castro distinction: the Wiki. McNamara is Robert Picardo in both modes. Do not mix the campaign and Five cast lists.

Wiki character pages plus Wikipedia’s BO1 cast or actor lists. We could not independently inspect IMDb or a separate Marlon Correa filmography.
Character	Identity in Five	Voice actor in Five
John F. Kennedy	35th US president	Jim Meskimen
Robert McNamara	US secretary of defense	Robert Picardo
Richard Nixon	Former US vice president; later the 37th president	Dave Mallow
Fidel Castro	Cuban prime minister	Marlon Correa

Call of the Dead cast: actors playing themselves

The four playable actors appear as themselves, as described by the 2011 cast announcement. The Call of Duty Wiki and Wikipedia’s Zombies overview both identify them as their own voices, but we found no direct official statement establishing that they recorded every line. Game Developer’s contemporary report says Romero supplied his likeness; the Wiki says he did not voice or motion-capture the boss. Only one independent source was found for that explicit no-voice/no-motion-capture claim, and the interview it cites could not be read. We therefore leave the boss voice unattributed.

On-screen character	Performer / role
Sarah Michelle Gellar	Sarah Michelle Gellar — playable
Robert Englund	Robert Englund — playable
Danny Trejo	Danny Trejo — playable
Michael Rooker	Michael Rooker — playable
George A. Romero	Romero’s likeness — non-playable boss; voice actor not confirmed

Call of the Dead Easter egg guide

Samantha, Maxis and other BO1 Zombies characters

Character	Role	BO1 voice / evidence limit
Samantha Maxis	Maxis’s daughter and the zombie announcer before the Moon exchange	Julie Nathanson — Wiki and her Wikipedia filmography agree
Ludvig Maxis	Group 935 founder; heard in Kino recordings and Moon	Wiki credits Fred Tatasciore. Only one independent source found; his Wikipedia BO1 row lists Nikolai but omits Maxis, so this is not independently corroborated.
Dr. Schuster	Group 935 scientist heard in Moon	Tom Kane — Wiki and his Wikipedia filmography agree
Dr. Groph	Griffin Station scientist heard in Moon	BO1 voice not confirmed; a BO3 cast citation cannot establish a BO1 credit
Pentagon Thief / Yuri Zavoyski	Five’s weapon-stealing special enemy; an Ascension scientist	Wiki credits Fred Tatasciore, the only independent source found; whether this establishes spoken lines in Five is unconfirmed
Brock and Gary	Explorers trapped in Shangri-La’s time loop, heard through recordings	Voice actors not confirmed; only one independent source, the Wiki, found for these roles
Dr. Gersh	Scientist trapped in Ascension’s Casimir Mechanism	Wiki credits Nolan North; only one independent BO1 source found. North’s Wikipedia Gersh credit is for BO3.

The BO1 Zombies storyline in one paragraph

Group 935’s work on Element 115 connects experiments, reanimation and teleportation. Samantha ends up inside the Moon Pyramid Device and controls the zombies. Richtofen travels with Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo, obtaining the Golden Rod through Call of the Dead and the Focusing Stone through Shangri-La before reaching Moon. He exchanges souls with Samantha and takes control. Following Maxis’s instructions, the remaining crew’s rocket sequence strikes Earth. PC Gamer describes the remaining crew launching the missiles; the Wiki assigns the launch to Maxis. This is a brief account of the shared sequence, not a resolution of that difference.

Why did the COD Zombies cast say goodbye?

The farewell refers to the original crew’s Aether storyline, whose final chapter was Tag der Toten in Black Ops 4 in September 2019, according to the Treyarch statement reported by Charlie Intel and the Zombies overview. It is not evidence that the actors retired or that every later version of these characters ended.

Black Ops 1 campaign voice cast

Ice Cube voices Bowman, not one of the playable Zombies crew. We found no reliable explanation of why he accepted the role and do not infer a motivation. His promotional tweet called Bowman “Corporal,” while the Wiki and Wikipedia describe Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bowman. These rank descriptions conflict; neither changes the actor credit.

Character	Actor	Distinction
Alex Mason	Sam Worthington	Campaign protagonist
Frank Woods	James C. Burns	Campaign role
Joseph Bowman	Ice Cube	Voice and likeness; also the multiplayer SOG announcer
Jason Hudson	Ed Harris	Campaign role
Viktor Reznov	Gary Oldman	Returning campaign character

Characters and actors FAQ

Question	Answer
What are the original BO1 Zombies characters’ names?	Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, Takeo Masaki and Edward Richtofen. Together they are called Ultimis.
Who voices Takeo in Black Ops 1?	Tom Kane, supported by the character page and his performance list.
Is JFK voiced by the same actor in Five and the campaign?	No. Jim Meskimen in Five, Chriss Anglin in the campaign.
Are the Call of the Dead actors the playable original crew?	No. Four actors play themselves; Ultimis are trapped non-playable characters in the quest.
Who did Ice Cube voice in BO1?	Joseph Bowman in the campaign and the SOG multiplayer announcer. His casting motivation was not confirmed.
Is Romero’s Zombies voice confirmed?	No. His likeness is documented, but we could not establish the boss voice actor.

How this guide was written

This BO1 reference was checked against the listed sources on 2026-10-24. This site does not host the game. We have not completed these steps in the browser version; the cast and story notes are research, not a browser gameplay result. Wiki pages are one independent source; filmography omissions, unavailable interviews and single-source credits are marked rather than filled in.