I had the pleasure of working with Don for many years when I was an Audio Producer at FOX. While we may have banged heads once or twice, he once called me a "jerk" for having him re-read a line, he was without argument a true master of voiceover. His voice is on a number of spots I produced while at FOX including this one for The Abyss and The Fly. I often argued with my bosses at both FOX and later at Disney that Don's voice was overwhelming the TV world. There were times where you could hear his voice on all the networks as well as commercials and of course movie trailers. I once tried to make my case to my bosses at FOX that a network trying to create it's own identity should not be using a voice heard on every major network. I had a tape in hand of a commercial break I had recorded where Don was the voice on every spot of a commercial break, a full 2 minute break mind you. Needless to say, no one ever listened to me and Don continued to voice just about everything for everyone. I can not deny that Don's voice got your attention and elevated just about any spot to a new level.
Don actually found his way in front of the camera on a number of occasions recently appearing in this Geico commercial. There's a great parody of voiceover guys, including Don, in this piece called 5 guys in a Limo and a great behind the scenes piece from The Today Show including my buddy Joe Cipriano. Oh yeah, he used to travel from session to session in a Limo. Quite a job if you can get it.
Today there are a bunch of guys in the voiceover world saddened by his passing, secretly however, they know there's a ton of work that just opened up.
Don's been called the "King of Voiceovers" and "The Voice of God". Well now God better step aside...there's a new voice in town!
Don LaFontaine Dies At 68
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