Don LaFontaine
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"In a World"... There, I said it. Happy?"
—Don LaFontaine, on Phineas and Ferb (one of his final roles)
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"Trailers, commercials and school chicken reports will sound a lot emptier from now on without The Don. The largest hole his absence leaves, however, was summed up by a random YouTube commentor: 'Now how will we know what kind of world we live in??'"
—Platypus Comix's memorial to him
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In a World... where action movie trailers are made... one ordinary man, under extraordinary circumstances... will discover the hidden power of his own voice... and change the world.
Even if you don't recognize the name, you know the voice. Don LaFontaine virtually single-handedly created the modern era of movie trailers with his distinctive voice and style of delivery. Don was respected throughout the industry for both his talent and personality and you would be hard pressed to find anyone imitating his distinctive delivery as anything but a respectful imitation or an Affectionate Parody. Though best known for "In a World," Don's voice was reportedly heard in hundreds of thousands of TV spots and more than 5,000 times in movies and movie trailers in just about every genre imaginable. He also starred As Himself in the sketch 5 Men and a Limo. It is a testament to his legacy that even after LaFontaine's death, trailers are now mostly voiced by the very similar-sounding Miguel Ferrer. Nobody wants to see a movie unless a man with a gravelly voice tells them to.
In a world without The Man, The Myth, The Legend -- Don LaFontaine -- society must find a way... to survive.
RIP Don LaFontaine (1940-2008).