‘King of Voiceovers’ Don LaFontaine Dies at 68

Don LaFontaine

LOS ANGELES — AP:  Don LaFontaine, the man who popularized the catch phrase “In a world where…” and lent his voice to thousands of movie trailers, has died. He was 68.

LaFontaine died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications in the treatment of an ongoing illness, said Vanessa Gilbert, his agent.

LaFontaine made more than 5,000 trailers in his 33-year career while working for the top studios and television networks.

In a rare on-screen appearance in 2006, he parodied himself on a series of national television commercials for a car insurance company where he played himself telling a customer, “In a world where both of our cars were totally under water…”

In an interview last year, LaFontaine explained the strategy behind the phrase.

“We have to very rapidly establish the world we are transporting them to,” he said of his viewers. “That’s very easily done by saying, `In a world where … violence rules.’ `In a world where … men are slaves and women are the conquerors.’ You very rapidly set the scene.”

LaFontaine insisted he never cared that no one knew his name or his face, though everyone knew his voice.

LaFontaine went on to work in the promo industry in the early 1960s. As an audio engineer, he produced radio spots for movies with producer Floyd Peterson.

When an announcer didn’t show up for a recording session in 1965, LaFontaine voiced his first narration, a promo for the film, “Gunfighters of Casa Grande.” The client, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, liked his performance.

LaFontaine remained active until recently, averaging seven to 10 voiceover sessions a day. He worked from a home studio his wife nicknamed “The Hole,” where his fax machine delivered scripts.

LaFontaine is survived by his wife, the singer and actress Nita Whitaker, and three daughters.

His funeral arrangements were pending.

It Happened On This Date (More or Less)

August 15

1845 – U.S. Naval Academy established at Annapolis, MD on former
site of Fort Severn,

1895 – Commissioning of Texas, the first American steel-hulled
battleship. Texas served off Cuba during the
Spanish-American War and took part in the naval battle of
Santiago. Under the name of San Marcos, she was sunk in
weapon effects tests in Chesapeake Bay in 1911. Her hulk
continued in use as a gunnery target through World War II.

1908 – First Navy post offices established in Navy ships.

1944 – Operation Dragoon, Allied invasion of Southern France.

1953 – First naval officer appointed Chairman, Joints Chiefs of Staff,
Admiral William Radford. He served from 15 August 1953
until 15 August 1957.

1958 – USS Lexington (CVA-16) arrives in vicinity of Taiwan.

It Happened On This Date (More or Less)

August 12

1812 – USS Constitution captures and destroys brig Adeona.

1918 – SECNAV approves acceptance of women as yeoman (F) in
U.S. Navy.

1942 – USS Cleveland (CL-55) demonstrates effectiveness of radio-proximity fuze (VT-fuze) against aircraft by successfullydestroying 3 drones with proximity bursts fired by her five inch guns.

1944 – LT Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., USNR, the older brother of
John F. Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot in a mid-air
explosion after taking off from England in a PB4Y from
Special Attack Unit One (SAU-1). Following manual takeoff,
they were supposed to parachute out over the English Channel
while the radio-controlled explosive filled drone proceeded to
attack a German V-2 missile-launching site. Possible causes
include faulty wiring or FM signals from a nearby transmitter.

1957 – In first test of Automatic Carrier Landing System, LCDR Don
Walker is landed on USS Antietam.

1958 – USS Nautilus (SSN-571) arrives Portland, England completing
first submerged under ice cruise from Pacific to Atlantic
Oceans.

Old Age Can Creep Up On You

Frequently, when I look in the mirror, I wonder “Who is that old man and why is he staring at me so hard?”

That “old man,” of course, is me. When did I get old?

Was it at the age of 32 when, while packing to move to New York and kneeling down to retrieve a toy from one of my young sons’ bed that I felt my very first tinge of arthritis? Was it when I realized I had more gray in my beard than black? Was it when I found I could not dance without my ankles “freezing up” on me? Maybe it was all of these and more.

At any rate, I think I am now officially “old!” It seems a week does not go by that I don’t have an older relative or friend who dies. When your older relatives die frequently, you are getting “up there” too.

I remember when I was about 10 years old, wondering when I would be “old” and how would I know it. I decided, capriciously, I now realize, that I would be “old” when a current comedian I admired died. I figured he was older enough than me that when he died, I would be “up there” too. That comedian was Bob Hope.

Bob Hope died several years ago. I guess that is when I remembered my decision at age 10 and knew I was then “old.”

Yesterday, we went to the funeral of a dear friend’s mother. This friend is in his late 50s. He still had both his mom and dad living until earlier this week when death from cancer took his mother, Lula Mae. Standing at the funeral yesterday, I realized that one day, my children would be in the same place as Bill, mourning the passing of a parent. It’s just the nature of things.

When did Old Age creep up on me? It snuck in the back door at night when I was sleeping, dreaming of the future, oblivious of the present that was too quickly passing me by.

Purely Personal

We lost one of the great ones over the weekend. Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor and author of “The Last Lecture,” died at age 47 of pancreatic cancer. Randy lived every day to the fullest and accomplished many of his lifelong goals and dreams in a short period of time. You can see his “Last Lecture” at Randy’s homepage: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ . Randy was one-of-a-kind, although he would tell you he is not unique. Trust me, he was.

Never truer than today!

The philosopher and poet Cicero wrote the following more than 2,000 years ago, but in the current political climate, with the November election drawing near, never was it truer than in 2008.

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot
survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable,
for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves
amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through
all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.

“For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to
his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments. He appeals
to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul
of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine
the pillars of the city. He infects the body politic so that it can no
longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” – Cicero (42 BC)

Quotes Worth Reading

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity, is like
a man standing in a bucket, and trying to lift himself up by the
handle.” – Winston Churchill

“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of
Congress but I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain.

“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on
the support of Paul.” – George Bernard Shaw

“A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which
debt he proposes to pay off with your money.” – G Gordon Liddy

“Giving money and power to government, is like giving whiskey and
car keys to teen age boys.” – P. J. O’Rourke

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November Decision is Critical

The first part of this explains who Thomas Sowell is and why we should pay attention to his opinion. The second part is his opinion on the upcoming election and why our decision as a country is so important.

Thomas Sowell was born in North Carolina and grew up in Harlem . As with many others in his neighborhood, he left home early and did not finish high school. The next few years were difficult ones, but eventually he joined the Marine Corps and became a photographer in the Korean War. After leaving the service, Sowell entered Harvard University , worked a part-time job as a photographer and studied the science that would become his passion and profession: economics.

After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (1958), he went on to receive his master’s in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (1968).

Continue reading “November Decision is Critical” →