Don LaFontaine dies aged 68
Posted by Matt Holmes
Don LaFontaine died yesterday, aged 68. He voiced over 750,000 television spots and 5,000 trailers and was the king of the voiceover.
His voice was so recognisable and chilling, Wiki call it “ominous and sonorous”. I couldn’t put it better myself, I always thought his voice was reminiscent of how I thought Freddy Krueger would sound in my head.
He made good looking movies, sound amazing but he could also make absolute trash actually sound half-decent. He was the voice of film for the 80’s and early 90’s and perfectly suited the era of the big action pop culture of the Stallone and Arnie’s of this world.
I dare say if you visited the theatre as an adult during that period, you would be hard pressed to watch a trailer not voiced by him at any going visit. It’s said at his peak he was recording something like 35 trailers/commercials a day.
His incredible work on Friday the 13th I would think will be his most memorable work…
Though he always contended that his trailer for The Elephant Man was his best work, which he did in a Rod Serling style-e.
His legacy will undoubtedly include the phrase “In a world…”, which he perfected so well it almost became his signature phrase and became cliched and parodied more than once.
His most notable trailers include…
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgement Day…
Batman Returns
The Godfather: Part II
And although only briefly it, notably Dr. Strangelove.
Remebering Don LaFontaine, voice of a thousand movies…
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Traler voice-over artists are some of the under-appreciated legends in the film industry and so it’s sad to hear about Don LaFontaine’s passing. My thoughts go out to Don’s family and I hope that he rests in peace.
That’s a real shame. =( His voiceover work made watching trailers exciting. He’ll be missed. R.I.P Don.
All I have to say is this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EZ1vdcHnDw
He truly was on of the most talented people in Hollywood and should’ve gotten more recognition much like James said. You’ll always be missed, Don.