Death of the Trailer King
In a world where audiences choose movies based on trailers, Don LaFontaine was one of the most powerful people in Hollywood–and one of the least recognized. LaFontaine, who died this week in Los Angeles at age 68, was the authoritative baritone behind hundreds of movie trailers, as well as the Fox TV network. He become so identified with hyperbolic teasers that started with the words “In a world where…,” he recently spoofed himself in a Geico commercial.
That commercial was the first time most people had seen LaFontaine’s face. Yet the man with one of the world’s most famous voices didn’t seem to mind his strange mix of fame and anonymity. In his 30-year career he did more than 3,000 voiceovers–sometimes as many as 20 a day–and his yearly income was in the millions.
Don LaFontaine’s voice will forever be identified with this generation’s top movies. When you watch Turner Classic Movies and hear one particular voice on trailers, you think of the late ’50s and early ’60s, in the same manner we think of that era when we hear news reports from Walter Cronkite or Huntley and Brinkley. LaFontaine will forever be the voice in the dark for the 80s through the millennium.