…the voice you were most likely to have heard was that of one Don Lafontaine, Hollywood’s premiere voice over guy. Don narrated over 5,000 trailers, 350,000 network promotions, and video game trailers in a career that spanned nearly 33 years. His catchphrase “In a world where…” was so ubiquitous that it became a cliché. Don passed away Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications in the treatment of an ongoing illness. Rarely seen on screen and little known to the public at large, he was nonetheless very much in demand, sometimes doing as many as 35 voiceovers a day. Another thing few knew about Don was that he was Jewish according to his MySpace profile. Of course that’s not totally relevant, but it was just a little tidbit sent in by a reader (thanks Cantor Schulmiller!) and I figured if he took the time to send me the info, then the least I could do was confirm its veracity (what kind of Jewish name is Lafontaine??) and then share it with all y’all. So there. At least it’s not another story about Amy Winehouse.
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maven
9/3/2008
Baruch Dayan Emet.
On the other hand, regarding the name, in the Yiddish tradition of emigre humor this is like the oldest joke in the world, about a rich man named “Maurice LaFontaine” who had changed his name from “Max Wasserman” when he became wealthy, but back in Poland they used to call him “Moyshe Pisher”…
Four Questions
9/3/2008
That voice always sounded so goy to me…