One Of The Voices Is Gone

Yesterday, we all lost a long-standing friend; Don LaFontaine, the Voice of a thousand trailers, has died, at the age of 68.

Don was one of a handful of men who do the majority of the trailer voice-over in the US. I've had the pleasure of working with a few of these gentlemen, and they're all a bunch of pros, who can do this is their sleep. You may recognize Don's voice from the trailers for Terminator 2, Batman Returns, or Shrek. The intro to his website should seem awfully familiar, and Ain't It Cool News has a fine assortment of his greatest hits, including a nice featurette at the end of their YouTube links.

We still have Hal Douglas, among others, so we'll continue to hear great VO like this; yet Don will be missed; he is the voice of the movies, and will continue to be for some time yet.

Seeing that Hal is 84 years old (!), I'm starting to wonder... what will the next generation of Trailer Voices be like? Who will it be? I suspect they'll look for a near-identicle replacement, but those are some tough shoes to fill.

Thanks for the good times, Don. See you in another life.