The Freddie Mercury of movie trailer voice-overs has left us. Donald LaFontaine (August 26th, 1940 - September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, 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 cliche several times, more recently in a commercial for Geico insurance.
LaFontaine was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California with a blood clot in his lungs on August 22nd, 2008 and was reported as being in critical condition the following Tuesday. LaFontaine died September 1, 2008 following complications from pneumothorax. He was survived by his wife, singer and actress Nita Whitaker, and three children. Our hearts go out to his friends and family. Don changed the way we watched our trailers and made things seem important; he made the movie pop. No matter what a friend told you about a movie, he was the guy who formally introduced you, and he will be greatly missed.
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