The movie-trailer king, Don LaFontaine, was a voiceover artist known for his baritone voice and the phrase, “In a world…” From the LA Times:
LaFontaine, who also did voice-over work on countless radio and network television promotional spots and commercials, died Monday of complications after treatment for an illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family said. The illness was not specified.
He was known as “Thunder Throat,” “The Voice of God” and “the highest-paid movie-trailer narrator” in Hollywood.
With a rich baritone that was once likened to the sound of someone speaking from the bottom of a well, LaFontaine dramatically narrated the movie trailers for classic films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey” (“A shrieking monolith deliberately buried by an alien intelligence”), “Fatal Attraction” (“A look that led to an evening, a mistake he’d regret all his life”) and “The Terminator” (“In the 21st century, a weapon would be invented like no other”).
LaFontaine’s distinctive voice also was heard on the trailers for “Doctor Zhivago,” “MASH,” “The Godfather,” “Ghostbusters,” “Home Alone,” “L.A. Confidential,” “Independence Day” and nearly 5,000 other movies. He also narrated trailers for the “Indiana Jones,” “Rambo” and “Die Hard” series.
“The industry is mourning the loss of a true Hollywood legend,” Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider,” for which LaFontaine was the voice, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Don was not only the reference standard in the voice-over community for his skills, but gave back to all who reached out to him,” she said. “Movie trailers and television promos will never be the same.”
In a 1995 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, LaFontaine said, “People think what I do is just like radio announcing, but it’s not.”
He viewed himself as a voice actor.
“You want to take the audience out of their seats, out of their homes, out of their complacency and pull them into the story,” he said. “You want to make that trailer so compelling that they have to go buy a ticket just to find out how the movie ends.”
By the early ’90s, LaFontaine was so busy — he once said he could voice about 60 promotions a week and as many as 35 in a day — that he was saving time by traveling from job to job in a chauffeur-driven limousine. He later began working from a studio in his home, where he received scripts via fax.
I’ve considered becoming a voice actor, and I’ve done a couple of voiceovers, and it IS hard work. You have to think about how to project, inflections, pronunciations, cadence, etc. How this man could do 35 projects in one day confounds me. He deserves a lot of credit for his work, even though most people had never seen his face. Of course, we all got to get a good look at him a couple of years ago:
Rest in peace, Don.
Previous Comments
I was stunned to hear of his passing. He’s one of those people whose voice you know very well, but not his name. Rest in peace Don.
#135046 | Author: golden eagle | Date: Sep 3 2008
I’m ashamed that I’ve never heard of this dude.
#135047 | Author: Walt | Date: Sep 3 2008
You’ve heard him, though, Walt. “In a WORLD without TIME…in a TIME without HEROES…one man, made a DIFFERENCE.”
#135049 | Author: Todd Stauffer | Date: Sep 3 2008
“I’ve considered becoming a voice actor, and I’ve done a couple of voiceovers, and it IS hard work.” You too, L.W.? I’ve been contemplating getting into voiceover/voice acting work myself on the side, but I understand that it takes professional voice coaching and a lot of patience since you’ll probably get rejected often at first. I’d love to reach this guy’s level of success.
#135058 | Author: Jeff Lucas | Date: Sep 3 2008
LW and Jeff. What? Blogging hasn’t paid y’all enough yet? Voiceoveing is old style. Blogging is new, edgy and sexy.
#135061 | Author: Walt | Date: Sep 3 2008
Yes, Jeff, competition in the voice acting business is fierce right now. I would be thankful to just get my foot in the door at a local level.
#135062 | Author: LatashaWillis | Date: Sep 3 2008
I would love the be the guy that do voiceovers on radio stations, especially like the one on Jack.
#135072 | Author: golden eagle | Date: Sep 4 2008
I want to be like the AT&T lady and do voice prompts. “For sales, press 1. For technical support, press 2…”
#135075 | Author: LatashaWillis | Date: Sep 4 2008