Obituary: Don LaFontaine

Sep 4 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

HIS distinctive rumble, which opened more than 5,000 films, earned him the nickname Thunderthroat.

But there was more to the man whose name could have come straight from the Godfather film he worked on.

Voice-over king Don LaFontaine, who has died, aged 68, was a skilled sound engineer, company boss and producer.

His signature voice was both ominous and sonorous becoming identified with the phrase “In a world...”, used so frequently in trailers. He voiced as many as 35 promotions a day, and added excitement and prestige to films which otherwise risked being “snoozers”. He was also the voice of American institutions: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Coke, Ford and McDonalds.

LaFontaine was born in 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota. After school, he joined the United States Army Band and Chorus as a recording engineer.

After discharge, he found work as a sound engineer and editor, and in 1962 was assigned to radio producer Floyd L Peterson, who was creating radio commercials for Dr Strangelove. They worked so well they joined forces, working out of Peterson’s apartment. The company swelled to employ 30 people, one of the first to work exclusively in film advertising.

In that period, the modern film trailer emerged and the pair created the catchphrases that still dominate the genre: “In a world . . . ” “A one-man army . . . ” “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no way out . . . ”.

In 1965, in a scheduling mix-up he was forced to narrate radio adverts for the film Gunfighters of Casa Grande and the client, MGM, bought his performance, leading to thousands of spots and trailers for the next 16 years.

After several years as head of production for Kaleidoscope Films, in 1976 he started his own production company, his first assignment being The Godfather: Part II.

In 1978, he joined Paramount Pictures as head of the trailer department and over the next three years became the voice of that studio. In 1981, he moved to Los Angeles and reigned as voice-over king. Normally driven to voice-over jobs by limo, he later recorded them in his own palatial Hollywood Hills home.

He also made appearances as the in-show announcer for the Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards and, based on contracts signed, was the single busiest actor in the Guild’s history.

He is survived by wife Nita Whitaker, and two daughters.

Don LaFontaine, voice-over artist; born August 26, 1940, died September 1, 2008.