(via AICN) Don LaFontaine, a.k.a., “The Voice”, passed away yesterday in Los Angeles, and with him, ends an era of movie trailers. Most will know him from the recent Geico commercial, even though they have heard his voice for years.
LaFontaine’s career began as a recording engineer at National Recording Studios where he linked up with Floyd Paterson to produce promo spots for Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove”. While working on “The Gunfighters of Casa Grande” in 1964, he filled in for a voice actor and his lifelong career was born.
“The Voice” is most notable for his work on the trailers, “The Godfather”, “The Terminator”, “Friday the 13th”, “Batman Returns” and many, many more. For me, LaFontaine was truly the voice of trailers (which I hold in equal importance to the films themselves, as if evidenced by this post here) of the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Note: please don’t get the late Mr. LaFontaine confused with Beau Weaver, who recently released a ringtone featuring the phrase “In a world …”, or Hal Douglas, who also became famous for the phrase “In a world ..” from the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld’s documentary, “Comedian”. Although all three are often confused, LaFontaine was the original “In a world …” guy.
Quint, over at Ain’t It Cool News has a terrific roundup of his life, his work and Quint’s own remembrances of how LaFontaine had an impact on his life which you should check out.
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