Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Voiceover King Don LaFontaine Dies at 68

Don LaFontaine, the man whose resonant voice read the trailers of thousands of movies over the past three decades, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 68.
LaFontaine, who did voiceover work in more than 5,000 trailers during his 33-year career, turned the "In a world where ..." opening line into an industry standard for studios promoting movies and TV shows.
"We have to very rapidly establish the world we are transporting [viewers] to," LaFontaine told the Associated Press last year, explaining the tactic. "That's very easily done by saying, 'In a world where ... violence rules.' 'In a world where ... men are slaves and women are the conquerors.' You very rapidly set the scene."
The voiceover legend remained active until recently, booming through seven to 10 voiceover sessions a day from his home studio. LaFontaine died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from complications in the treatment of an ongoing illness, according to his agent.

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