Don LaFontaine: 1940-2008

photo by Aaron Farley

Perhaps you'll find it an uncanny thought: the ubiquitous, deep-throated baritone that spoke in nearly 5,000 trailers and 350,000 commercials came from an actual person. It was a superhuman voice made for voiceovers, but it belonged to Don LaFontaine, who passed away Monday at the age of 68 from complications relating to pneumothorax.

LaFontaine, a Minnesota native, used to joke about the moment his voice dropped into its famed formulation. "When I was 13 years old, my voice changed in the middle of a sentence," he said. "And it never went back." Rather, it led him to become one of the busiest actors in the history of the Screen Actor's Guild and to so define movie trailers with his work that it's now impossible of think of their contemporary cachet without him.

To turn a now-famous three-word phrase he coined: In a world without Don LaFontaine, the film community must mourn the loss of one of it's greatest spokesmen and most recognizable icons. He will be sorely missed.

Watch a short documentary about Don LaFontaine:



Related links:
DonLaFontaine.com
Don LaFontaine on IMDb
Swindle Magazine interview with Don LaFontaine

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