Person: Don Lafontaine
Date of Birth: 26 August 1940
Date of Death: 1 September 2008
Age: 68
Nickname: King of the Movie Trailers VOg (Voice of god)
Cause of death: complications from pneumothorax, a collapsed lung that causes air to build in the pleural cavity
I just heard this news and to ignore this would be unrespectfull.
It is the most known voice actor in the history of movies.
You probably never seen him but you heard him a lot without knowing it was him!
His name maybe doesn’t ring a bell, but perhaps this will:
LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including “The Godfather,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” For a time in the late ’70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures. Over the past 25 years, LaFontaine cemented his position as the “King of Voiceovers.” Aside from being the preeminent voice in the movie trailer industry, Don also worked as the voice of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, as well as for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. By conservative estimates, he voiced hundreds of thousands of television and radio spots, including commercials for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Budweiser, McDonalds, Coke, and many other corporate sponsors.
At last count, he has worked on nearly 5000 films, including appearances as the in-show announcer for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards.
I’ve collected some links for you and I suggest you watch the youtube link.
You will hear his voice then and I will bet a lot of you will recognize it!
Links: Homepage, IMDB, ETonline, CNN, Youtube
