Don Lafontaine/Jerry Reed dies today

[Flynbyu]

Donald LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. His signature voice was both ominous and sonorous. Due to the sheer volume of trailer voiceovers LaFontaine recorded, he became identified with the phrase "In a world...", which has been used in movie trailers so frequently that it has become a cliché. He also parodied this cliché several times, more recently in a commercial for GEICO insurance.

LaFontaine stated that his favorite work in a movie trailer was for the hit biopic film The Elephant Man.


Some noticeable spots of his work are in the trailers to The Godfather, and various segments on Jeopardy!, in categories such as DR. SEUSS AT THE MULTIPLEX, COMING SOON... HISTORY!, FOOD A LAFONTAINE, and NURSERY RHYME PREVIEWS. Most recently he has been featured in a GEICO commercial that began airing in August 2006, where he is introduced as "that announcer guy from the movies" (with his name listed underneath) by another voice over actor, D.C. Douglas.

He was the announcer on the newscasts of WCBS-TV New York, from 2000 to 2001.

He also appeared on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on May 14, 2005, where he played "Not my job" (a game in which famous people have to accurately answer questions totally unrelated to their chosen professions). The prize (for a listener, not the contestant) is "Carl Kassel's voice on your home answering machine". LaFontaine did not win the game, and offered to do the answering machine message himself instead.

LaFontaine and fellow voiceover pro Joe Cipriano were interviewed on The Paul Harris Show on May 5, 2005 on the St. Louis radio station KMOX 1120AM. They discussed their careers, tips for others, and their contributions to Joan Baker's book, Secrets of Voiceover Success. Neither LaFontaine nor Cipriano was in the studio with Harris — they were each in their own home studios in Los Angeles, connected to the show via ISDN lines.

LaFontaine and four of his fellow voiceover artists--John Leader, Nick Tate, Mark Elliot, and Al Chalk--appeared together in a short film produced as an introduction segment for the 26th Annual Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards called 5 Men and a Limo, where each voiceover artist parodied their own styles en route to the ceremony.

Via Wikipedia.com

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Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, country guitarist, session musician, songwriter, and actor who appeared in over a dozen films. As a singer, he may be best known for When You're Hot, You're Hot, for which he received the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1972 and East Bound and Down, the theme song to the first Smokey and the Bandit movie in which he portrayed the "Snowman", Cletus Snow.


Reed died in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 1, 2008, of complications from emphysema.



~Brian

[BRAD]

it seems like there is alot of actors and people like that dieing lately

[Peelz]

"In a world where the movie trailer voice is a star...." he could have narrated his own death trailer. RIP Fella

[Flynbyu]

It seems when one famous person goes, a few go along with them.

~Brian

[Flynbyu]

Case in point.....Another star passed today too.

See update at the top.

~Brian

[BRAD]

thats a shame them was actually some good movies reed was in

[Flynbyu]

Smokey and the Bandit.



~Brian

[Peelz]

I remember when Jerry Reed was on Scooby doo.

"pretty mary sunshine"  I made my parents buy the album it was on...talk about good "fringe" marketing

[kyledvor61]

there all going :'(

[darkside94]

RIP your voice has been heard lol

[Krandall]

movies just arent going to be the same.

[darkside94]

(In his voice)"In a world without Don Lafontaine movies are just gonna suck cock and balls"

[Gunz]

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'
a'we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long why to go and a short time to get there
I'm east bound just watch ol'Bandit run

Keep your foot hard on the peddle...son, never mind them brakes
let it all hang out cause we've got a run to make
The boys are thirsty in Atlanta,and there's beer in Texarkana
and we'll bring it back no matter what it takes

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'
a'we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there
I'm east bound just watch ol'Bandit run ......

Old Smokey's got them ears on, he's hot on your trail
and he ain't gonna rest 'till you're in jail
So you gotta dodge him.... you gotta duck him
You've gotta keep that diesel truckin....
just put that hammer down and give it hell

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'
a'we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there
I'm east bound just watch ol'Bandit run

R.I.P.    Jerry Reed, my man, I loved this guy. He was my childhood hero, may have something do with why I own a trucking company now. Who knows.

[darkside94]

omfg he sang that
thats like the rednecks anthem
and i love it!!!

[Flynbyu]

I remember going to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City when I was about 9, and Jerry Reed was in concert there. I remember him singing the Smokey and the Bandit theme. That movie was very popular when I was younger.

~Brian