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Don LaFontaine

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Don LaFontaine
File:Don LaFontaine.jpg
Born (1940-08-26) August 26, 1940 (age 83)
United States Duluth, Minnesota
OccupationVoice actor
SpouseNita Whitaker
ChildrenSkye LaFontaine
Elyse LaFontaine

Don LaFontaine (born August 26, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota), is a legendary voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. His signature voice is both ominous and sonorous. He is often nicknamed "The King of Movie Trailers", "Mr. Voice," "Thunder Throat", "Mr. In-A-World" or "The Voice of God", and credited with helping to create the modern movie trailer. Many of his voiceovers take the format of "In a world where (some negative condition), one (usually person) will (do something positive)". He has also parodied this cliché several times, more recently in a commercial for GEICO insurance.

His favorite movie trailer that he did was a voice-over for the hit biopic film The Elephant Man.[1]

Life and career

His career began as a recording engineer at the National Recording Studios, where he had the opportunity to work with Floyd Peterson producing promo spots for Dr. Strangelove. Peterson incorporated many of LaFontaine’s ideas for the spots, and not long after, they went into business together. While working on the 1964 western Gunfighters of Casa Grande, LaFontaine had to fill in for an unavailable voice actor to finish a client’s presentation. Not long after, the client bought the spots, and LaFontaine’s career as a voice actor had been sealed. Prior and into the 1970s, LaFontaine developed his signature style of a strong narrative approach, and heavy melodramatic coloration of his voice work.

LaFontaine’s signature voice has commanded a busy schedule. He is said to voice about 60 promotions a week, and sometimes as many as 35 in a single day. It has been said that his voice-over can add prestige and excitement to what may otherwise be a "snoozer" movie. Most studios are willing to pay a high fee for his service, thanks in no small part to his rigorous efforts and golden voice. His income is reportedly seven figures per year.[2]

Famous for being driven to voice-over jobs in a personalized limo with a full time driver, so as not to waste time parking and going from job to job, more recently he has begun recording many promotions from his own palatial estate in the Hollywood Hills, saving the time from traveling to many high-profile recording studios. This is due to the advent of ISDN codec technology that allows talent to communicate with high clarity in real time to studios around the world, and to the Internet where a file can be recorded and e-mailed to a studio within seconds.

Similar voice actors Ashton Smith, Hal Douglas and Peter Cullen have all been categorized as being a close copy to the style of LaFontaine, and are sometimes confused with LaFontaine.

Notable performances

Some noticeable spots of his work are in the trailers to The Godfather, and various segments on Jeopardy!, in categories such as DR. SEUSS AT THE MULTIPLEX, COMING SOON… HISTORY!, FOOD A LAFONTAINE, and NURSERY RHYME PREVIEWS. Most recently he has been featured in a GEICO commercial that began airing in August 2006, where he is introduced as "that announcer guy from the movies" (with his name listed underneath). Before this, many people had not heard of him or ever seen his face.

He also appeared on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, where he played "Not my job" (a game in which famous people have to accurately answer questions totally unrelated to their chosen professions). The prize (for a listener, not the contestant) is "Carl Kassel's voice on your home answering machine". LaFontaine did not win the game, and offered to do the answering machine message himself instead.

LaFontaine and fellow voiceover pro Joe Cipriano were interviewed on The Paul Harris Show [1] on May 5, 2005 on the St. Louis radio station KMOX 1120AM. They discussed their careers, tips for others, and their contributions to Joan Baker's book, Secrets of Voiceover Success. Neither LaFontaine nor Cipriano was in the studio with Harris — they were each in their own home studios in Los Angeles, connected to the show via ISDN lines.

LaFontaine and four of his fellow voiceover artists--John Leader, Nick Tate, Mark Elliot, and Al Chalk--appeared together in a short film produced as an introduction segment for the 26th Annual Hollywood Reporter Key Awards called 5 Men and a Limo, where each voiceover artist parodied their own styles en route to the ceremony.

His other performances include:

Satire and other appearances

His voice has been the subject of parody and satire, as seen in a Cartoon Network commercial for The Powerpuff Girls, the stand-up comedy of Pablo Francisco, and on the popular web-cartoon site Homestar Runner. Comedian-actress Janeane Garofalo formerly performed "an impression of every movie trailer ever made" with the words, "In a WORLD!..." saying that every movie trailer seems to begin with LaFontaine saying, "In a world..." or "In a city..."

The trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines what a trailer is, saying the narrator "will normally employ a deep voice that sounds like a seven foot tall man who has been smoking cigarettes since childhood" and speaks in a clear parody of LaFontaine. [2]

LaFontaine has also participated in some of his satire, as evidenced by his voice in "North by North Quahog & Brian Sings and Swings", episodes on the FOX animated series Family Guy. His voice has also been featured in musical tracks.

He is also mentioned in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Antenna". In the episode, George Lowe bemoans the fact that he cannot get a voiceover job while LaFontaine earns "30,000 dollars a minute". Lowe attempts an impression of LaFontaine, saying "In a world where towers rule the earth."

On April 12, 2007, LaFontaine appeared on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with ousted American Idol finalist Haley Scarnato to provide humorous "movie trailer"-esque commentary, as a spoof of his Geico commercial.

His voice can also be heard on the promo clip for The HD-DVD Official Web Site.

References

  1. ^ "Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas, USA), April 2, 2007: Entertainment Article about Don LaFontaine by Pauline Arrillaga".
  2. ^ "Ask the Answer Bitch". E!online. April 2,2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) (link dead as of March 4, 2007)


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